Endoscopic ultrasound-guided drainage of postoperative intra-abdominal abscesses

Although endoscopic ultrasound(EUS)-guided drainage has become the standard procedure for pancreatic pseudocysts in recent years and is generally regarded as a safe and effective method,there have been few reports of EUS-guided drainage of postoperative intra-abdominal abscesses.Here we report our experience with 4 cases of postoperative intraabdominal abscesses for which EUS-guided drainage was performed between May 2011 and May 2014.Distal pancreatectomy had been performed in 3 cases,whereas low anterior resection for rectal cancer was performed in the remaining case.All patients underwent transgastric naso-cystic drainage,which resulted in clinical improvement without complications,even when performed within 4 wk after surgery.On average,the naso-cystic drain was removed 10 d after placement,with no abscess recurrence.Based on these findings,we believe that EUS-guided drainage of postoperative intraabdominal abscesses is a safe and effective method,although further large-scale investigations are required to confirm our findings.