An unique presentation of sickle cell disease: pyogenic hepatic abscess

A laparotomy-proved pyogenic hepatic abscess was the initial clinical manifestation of sickle cell disease in a 4-year-old black boy. Although this complication has been reported in an adult patient with sickle cell disease, it has not been reported previously in children nor as the presenting manif...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Pediatrics (Evanston) 1971-06, Vol.47 (6), p.1019-1022
Main Authors: Shulman, S T, Beem, M O
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anaerobiosis
Anemia, Sickle Cell - complications
Blood - microbiology
Cephalothin - therapeutic use
Child, Preschool
Humans
Liver
Liver Abscess - complications
Liver Abscess - microbiology
Liver Abscess - pathology
Liver Abscess - surgery
Male
Microbial Sensitivity Tests
Peptococcus - isolation & purification
Radionuclide Imaging
Technetium
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Summary:A laparotomy-proved pyogenic hepatic abscess was the initial clinical manifestation of sickle cell disease in a 4-year-old black boy. Although this complication has been reported in an adult patient with sickle cell disease, it has not been reported previously in children nor as the presenting manifestation of this state. Peptococcus species, a strictly anaerobic staphylococcus never previously reported implicated in a liver abscess, was isolated from two blood cultures. Inadequate anaerobic bacteriologic techniques may explain the failure to identify the causative organism in up to 60% of pyogenic hepatic abscesses. That this abscess represents a secondarily-infected hepatic sickle cell infarction seems probable.
ISSN:0031-4005
1098-4275
DOI:10.1542/peds.47.6.1019