A 60-year Literature Review on Hepatic Actinomycosis

We describe a case of a 35-y-old female who developed HA 2 weeks after gastrectomy. In addition, we analyzed clinical characteristics and outcome of 157 additional cases of HA identified in a 60 years ’ literature review. Patients with HA were predominantly male (57%) and more than one-half were between 40 and 70 years of age. Of interest, the infection was cryptogenic in 80.8% of cases. Risk factors for HA were identified in 63.1% of the patients. Clinical presentation included fever (57.7 %), abdominal pain (52.1%), weight loss (45.1%), anorexia (27.5%), fatigue and chills (12.7% each), and malaise (12%) over a 2.35±3.5 months period. Leucocytosis, elevated alkaline phosphatase, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and C-reactive protein (CRP) were the most frequent laboratory findings . Radiologic imaging revealed that the right lobe was more frequently affected (62.5%) with a single lesion found in two-thirds of cases. Diagnosis was achieved by histopathologic examination in 70.6% of cases. Cultures yielded Actinomyces in 45 instances, with A. israelii being the most frequent sp ecies. Less than one half of the patients were treated only with antibiotics, while the others received combined medical and surgical treatment. The median duration of antibiotic therapy was 135 days (range: 7-730 days). The presence of multiple lesions or solid tumor like lesions was significantl y associated with medical therapy alone. The outcome was favorable in most cases (94%). Although...
Source: Medical Principles and Practice - Category: Internal Medicine Source Type: research