The authors describe their 16 years of experience in the therapy of intra-abdominal extra-organ abscesses performed by means of a directed percutaneous drainage with the use of a thin catheter 5.5 F (n = 18) or by means of a single or repeated evacuation puncture by a thin needle 20 G (n = 30), which have been done under an ultrasonographic control in 48 persons. The described method of the single or repeated evacuation puncture and percutaneous drainage was successful in 69% of cases (33 persons). From the 15 other patients, six persons (12.5%) died after a subsequent surgical drainage for sepsis under the picture of a multi-organ failure. In contrast to the percutaneous drainage by wide catheters, no serious or lethal complications were detected in connection with the intervention, in 6 cases (7%) there were only insignificant complications. The success of the intervention was on the lower level of percutaneous drainage interventions, performed with wider catheters, described in literature. In contrast to percutaneous drainage with wider catheters, serious complications connected with this method were absent.

        Key words: ultrasonography – intervention sonography – aspiration by the thin needle – percutaneous drainage – abdominal abscess – therapy of abscess