Percutaneous Drainage of Abdominal Abscesses and Fluid Collections

Abstract

The efficacy of percutaneous drainage (PD) of abdominal abscesses and fluid collections has been proved by the simple fact that the number of successfully treated patients is steadily increasing in all institutions practising this therapeutic modality. Gerzof et al. [1, 2] reported on a series of 24 patients in 1979, expanded to include 67 patients in 1981. Martin et al. [5] employed PD in a series of 42 abscesses by 1982 and expanded the series to comprise 150 abscesses by 1985. Van Sonnenberg et al. [6, 9] reported on PD of 51 patients in 1982, expanding their series to comprise 212 patients and 250 abscesses in 1984. Likewise, the number of our patients treated by PD increased from 27 in 1982 to 120 in 1986 [7, 8].