Clinical characteristics and pathogens of pediatric pyogenic liver abscess in Beijing Children’s Hospital, China

Background: Data on pyogenic liver abscess (PLA) of children in China have been limited. Method: We retrospectively reviewed PLA cases from January 2017 to June 2019 at Beijing Children’s Hospital. Clinical features and pathogens were analyzed. Results: We diagnosed 15 PLA patients in our center. Median age of onset was 3.2 years and the median diagnostic time was 9 days. Four patients (26.7%) had underlying diseases and seven patients (46.7%) had multiple organ involvement. The sensitivity achieved 100% when ultrasound and contrast-enhanced CT scan were combined use to diagnose PLA. Two patients were defined pathogen through metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS). Finally, eleven patients (73.3%) were cured during follow-up time and four patients (26.7%) dead. Compared to the survival group and the death group, the patients in death group were more likely to have multiple organ involved (100 vs. 27%, P < 0.05) and bilateral lobe occupied ( P < 0.05) . Conclusions: PLA often occurs in patients with underlying disease. Multiple organs involved may lead to poor prognosis. mNGS can be a new method to detect pathogen.