[Neonatal liver abscess after umbilical venous catheter]

The use of an umbilical venous catheter (UVC) is common practice in neonatal units and is subjected to strict rules of insertion and monitoring to detect potential complications. Hepatic abscess is one of these rare complications.

We report the observation of a 15-day-old female newborn admitted for a hepatic abscess. The patient had been hospitalized at birth in a neonatal intensive care unit. With the appearance of hemodynamic instability on the 4th day of life, a nosocomial infection was suspected and was treated with ceftazidime, vancomycin and amikacin. Later, as the need for O(2) increased and plasma C-reactive protein (CRP) was 190 mg/L, the patient received imipenem and vancomycin, while an abdominal ultrasound examination showed a hepatic abscess. A triple antibiotic treatment was initiated with imipenem, vancomycin, and metronidazole, while the initial examination showed a clinically stable patient with a CRP at 208 mg/L. Abdominal ultrasounds showed a hepatic abscess measuring 53.4×24.9 mm on day 21 and 51.4 mg/L CRP. Then the abscess dimensions decreased to 35.7×14 mm. The antibiotic therapy was maintained for 4 weeks.

Hepatic abscess should be suspected in neonates with UVC with sepsis and persistent signs of inflammation in spite of adequate antibiotic treatment.