[Biliogenic liver abscess caused by acute obstructive suppurative cholangitis]

Biliogenic liver abscess was found by autopsy in 52 of 61 (85.2%) cases died of acute obstructive suppurative cholangitis (AOSC) at our hospital from 1957 to 1980. Of the 52 cases with liver abscess, 44 (84.6%) had multiple abscesses and 47 (90.4%) suffered complications of the rupture of liver abscess. Liver abscess was clinically diagnosed in only 7 of 52 cases who underwent emergency operation, with the predeath definite diagnosis of 13.5% (7/52). The authors considered biliogenic liver abscess an inevitable outcome not an accidental complication of AOSC when the high pressure in bile duct could not be relieved, and emphasized the importance of prevention, early diagnosis and treatment of liver abscess in order to decrease the mortality of AOSC.