Endoscopic ultrasound-guided pelvic and prostatic abscess drainage: experience in 30 patients

Endoscopic ultrasound (EUS)-guided drainage is an effective treatment for many abscesses in the abdomen. We review our experience with EUS-guided drainage of pelvic abscesses.

Thirty consecutive patients who underwent EUS-guided pelvic abscess drainage were evaluated after excluding three patients with distance to transducer >2 cm or organized abscess.

Thirty patients (25 male) aged 60 ± 4.5 years (mean ± SD) had 4 prostatic abscesses, 7 perisigmoid abscesses, and 19 perirectal abscesses with mean ± SD sizes of 2.5 ± 0.3, 4.7 ± 0.6, and 5.4 ± 0.4 cm, respectively. Surgery was the most common predisposing factor (n = 14, 46.6 %) followed by diverticulitis (n = 5, 16.6 %). Interventions included aspiration only (2 prostatic and 3 perisigmoid), aspiration and dilatation (2 patients in each group), and dilatation and stenting (2 perisigmoid and 17 perirectal). Five (16.6 %) patients needed re-intervention, and two (6.6 %) needed surgery. There were no recurrences. Technical success of EUS-guided pelvic abscess drainage overall was 90.9 % (30/33) and was 93.3 % (27/30) in patients in whom EUS-guided drainage was attempted, with 16.5 % (n = 5) re-intervention rate.

EUS-guided drainage has an excellent success rate in drainage of pelvic abscesses.