A 57-year-old man with no significant medical history was admitted to the hospital, with high-grade fever and right upper quadrant pain. He was found, on abdominal ultrasound, to have a right lobe hepatic cystic lesion. MRI of the abdomen confirmed a hepatic abscess. Cultures obtained under CT guidance showed the abscess to be caused byFusobacterium necrophorum. This is a rare bacterium that can cause potentially fatal liver abscesses. Following drainage and intravenous antibiotic treatment, the patient improved and was discharged on a 4-week antibiotic course. An abdominal CT, performed 6 weeks after discharge, showed total resolution of the abscess. The patient had, 2 weeks prior to the development of the liver abscess, undergone routine dental cleaning. Neither upper respiratory symptoms nor sore throat had been identified prior to the presentation.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.