Trial reportJournal of ultrasound2020
Study of ultrasound-guided needle aspiration and catheter drainage in the management of liver abscesses.
Trial report in Journal of ultrasound, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 24 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- Optimal timing of pyogenic liver abscess evacuation: The role of early ultrasound-guided intervention.World journal of gastrointestinal surgery · 2025Article
- Article
- Case Report: Percutaneous catheter drainage in the treatment of amebic liver abscess with syphilis infections - a case study and literature review.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Article
- Utility of Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound in Optimizing Hepatic Abscess Treatment and Monitoring.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Article
- Efficacy of Tounongsan decoction on pyogenic liver abscess: network pharmacology and clinical trial validation.Journal of traditional Chinese medicine = Chung i tsa chih ying wen pan · 2024Article
- Updates on the Causes, Diagnosis, and Management of Peritoneal Abscesses: A Systematic Review.Cureus · 2023Review
- Percutaneous catheter drainage versus needle aspiration for liver abscess management: an updated systematic review, meta-analysis, and meta-regression of randomized controlled trials.Annals of translational medicine · 2023Article
- Therapy of pyogenic liver abscess with a primarily unknown cause.Langenbeck's archives of surgery · 2022Article
- Large Solitary Pyogenic Liver Abscesses: A Review of Their Management at a Tertiary Care Hospital.Cureus · 2022Article
- Comparison of ultrasound-guided puncture drainage and incision drainage for deep neck abscess.Gland surgery · 2021Article
- Ultrasound and non-ultrasound imaging techniques in the assessment of diaphragmatic dysfunction.BMC pulmonary medicine · 2021Review
- EUS-guidedEndoscopic ultrasoundArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeTo evaluate and compare the efficacy of intermittent needle aspiration and continuous catheter drainage in ultrasound-guided management of liver abscesses.
methodsThis was a prospective, randomised study conducted on 100 patients (88 males and 12 females; age range 22-74 years) with liver abscess(es) and having abscess size more than 5 cm, divided into two groups: Percutaneous needle aspiration (PNA) (n = 50) and percutaneous catheter drainage (PCD) (n = 50). Criteria of exclusion were: rupture of abscess before intervention; prior intervention; uncorrectable coagulopathy; concomitant biliary tract malignancy. In the PNA group, pus was aspirated by an 18-gauge needle using freehand technique and the number of aspirations was limited to two. Failure of abscess size to decline below 50% of the original diameter or of clinical improvement after second aspiration was considered as failure of aspiration. In the PCD group, drainage was done by 12-French catheters using Seldinger technique. Drainage was considered as failure if abscess cavity did not resolve and laparotomy was needed to evacuate the pus cavity.
resultThe success rate in the PNA group was 88% and 92% in the PCD group; however, this difference was statistically not significant, suggesting that both are equally efficacious. The total duration of hospital stay (mean 6.8 days [PNA] vs 10.5 days [PCD]; p value: 0.011) and the average duration between intervention and discharge (5.9 days [PNA] vs 10.2 days [PCD]; p value:0.026) were significantly less in the PNA group. One major complication was seen in our study: peritonitis due to peri-catheter leak in PCD group.
conclusionBoth procedures are equally efficacious in the management of liver abscesses; however in view of less duration of hospital stay, patient safety and comfort, procedure simplicity, and the reduced cost, needle aspiration should be used as the first-line procedure in the treatment of liver abscess (even in abscesses more than 5 cm). Catheter drainage should be reserved for cases that do not respond to a second attempt of aspiration.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.