Clinical and ultrasonographic features of amoebic liver abscess In a nigerian teaching hospital.

Background: Amoebic Liver abscess is a tropical disease with a wide spectrum of clinical presentation. This study describes its clinical and ultrasonographic features in a teaching hospital setting. Methods: Records of all patients aged 18 years and above with amoebic liver abscess admitted in the medical wards of University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital between May 2005 and June 2007 wereidentified from the in-patient ward register. These were retrieved from the medical records department and analysed. Data obtained included age, sex, occupation, social history, presenting features,ultrasonographic features and laboratory results. Results: Twenty two patients were seen over the period. Their age ranged from 20 to 59 years with a mean of 36.4 ± 8.6 years. There were 18 (81.8%) males and 4 (18.2%) females. The most frequent clinical features were fever (100%), hepatomegaly (100%) and jaundice (50%). Ultrasound scanshowed that 16 abscesses were solitary. Two abscesses were found on each of 4 patients, and 3 on each of 2 patients. Of the solitary abscesses, 11 were on the right lobe of the liver while 5 were on theleft lobe. Entamoeba Histolytica were absent in the stool of 17 patients with amebic liver abscess. Conclusion: The triad of fever, hepatomegaly and jaundice remains the classical presentation of amoebic liver abscess.. Response to metronidazole monotherapy was quite clinical effective