Radiofrequency Ablation for Liver Abscesses From Chronic Granulomatous Disease

Background:

- Abscesses are a pocket of infection in an organ or tissue. Patients with a disease called chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) often develop these abscesses. CGD is an inherited disorder that affects how white blood cells function. Liver abscesses in people with CGD often require surgery to remove them and treat the infection. However, some people with CGD cannot have full surgery because it would be too risky. Researchers want to try a procedure called radiofrequency ablation (RFA) to treat these liver abscesses. RFA can usually be done without a major operation. This study will see if RFA is a safe and effective treatment for liver abscesses in patients with CGD.

Objectives:

- To see if RFA is a safe and effective treatment for CGD-related liver abscesses.

Eligibility:

- Individuals between 18 and 75 years of age with CGD who have liver abscesses that cannot be treated with surgery.

Design:

* Participants will be screened with a physical exam and medical history. Blood and urine samples will be collected. Imaging studies will be performed on the liver.
* Participants will have RFA for the abscesses. RFA is an image-guided technique that heats and destroys specific tissue, such as tumor tissue. It will target any abscesses on the liver.
* After the procedure, participants will stay in the hospital for monitoring before being released.
* Participants will have regular follow-up visits for up to 1 year after treatment. Blood and urine samples will be collected. Additional imaging studies will be performed.

Radiofrequency Ablation (RFA) has become an increasingly common therapeutic treatment for neoplasms in the liver. A number of devices are now Food and Drug Administration cleared for this indication, and a growing body of literature supports this technique as a therapeutic option for patients with primary or metastatic hepatic malignancies. In vivo animal studies have also shown that this technique can also be used to treat infections. Insertion of the thermal energy delivery probe into an infected liver abscess destroys the bacteria while preserving surrounding tissue. Off-label use of RFA was successfully used to treat 22 abscesses in 4 patients with chronic granulomatous disease who had inoperable liver abscesses. The proposed clinical trial will specifically evaluate the feasibility, safety, and to a lesser extent, efficacy of RFA to treat liver abscesses in subjects with previously diagnosed chronic granulomatous disease. This will be a non-randomized case study conducted at the Clinical Center at the National Institutes of Health. One RFA device will be used. Ten subjects will be enrolled. If the method proves to be both feasible and safe, detailed analysis on efficacy will be performed. RFA eventually could play an important clinical role in patients with chronic granulomatous disease and liver abscesses that are not amenable to surgical management and are without other effective therapeutic options, or might otherwise be incompletely treated with surgical resection and debridement alone.

Eligibility Criteria:
* INCLUSION/ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA:

A patient will be included if he or she meets all of the following criteria:

1. Has documented chronic granulomatous disease
2. Age 18 - 75
3. Has a liver abscess infected with Staphylococcus aureus or other microorganism susceptible to RFA, but is not an optimal candidate for curative surgical resection either due to location of disease, multiplicity of disease, or previous surgery or other comorbidities, such as pulmonary insufficiency, or has other contraindications to general anesthesia or perioperative management or refuses surgery.
4. Is willing to return to NIH for imaging scans
5. Is willing to undergo testing or procedures associated with this protocol
6. Has failed long term antibiotic treatment and abscess drainage if applicable.

EXCLUSION CRITERIA:

A patient will be excluded if he or she satisfies 1 or more of the following criteria:

1. Positive results for toxin-producing bacteria obtained from liver biopsy in the pertinent abscess.
2. Is a good candidate for liver-curative open surgical resection and does not refuse the surgery.
3. Is not a candidate for RFA therapy due to lesion size or location.
4. Has a prothrombin time (PT) or partial thromboplastin time (PTT) \>1.5 times normal (except in patients who have a known lupus anticoagulant or other condition which a hematologist deems will not cause excessive bleeding despite the abnormal coagulation parameters).
5. Has a platelet count \<50,000/mm(3) which cannot be maintained despite platelet transfusions.
6. If you are pregnant.
7. Any condition that, in the investigator s opinion, places the patient at undue risk by participating in the study

Please Note: Co-morbidities in critically ill patients will not themselves constitute exclusion criteria because the cause of their illness/condition may require the use of RFA as a less invasive treatment than surgery.