Klebsiella pneumonia-induced prostate abscess: How to work it up?

Introduction: Klebsiella pneumonia (KP) is related to a metastatic phenomenon from the originally affected primary organ. About 28% of patients with pyogenic liver abscess arising from KP suffer from metastatic complications. This study was done to define the clinical features of KP-induced prostate abscess. Methods: A total of 14 patients were diagnosed with prostate abscess based on clinical, laboratory examination and abdominopelvic computed tomography (CT) scan from 2007 to 2013. Results: Among these 14 patients, KP was the dominant causative microorganism in 6 patients (42.9%), followed by Esherchia coli in 2, Pseudomonas aeroginosa in 1, methicillin-resistant Staphyolcoccus aureus in 1, and no growth in either the urine or blood culture in 4. Four (66.7%) of the 6 KP induced-prostate abscess had other concurrent abscess sites besides the prostate: liver in 3, kidney in 1, and perianal area with endogenous endophthalmitis that ended in loss of vision in 1 patient. Conclusions: We report on the clinical features of KP-induced prostate abscess based on a small number of patients, which is the main limitation of our study. We believe that if the causative organism of a prostate abscess was KP, more workup would be needed to rule out the presence of an abscess in other organs, especially in the liver. Abdominopelvic CT scan would be a proper imaging modality.