title: Hepatic actinomycosis: an overview of salient features and outcome of therapy.
abstract: A 34-y-old African-American male developed Actinomyces liver abscess 8 months after appendectomy. Review of the English language literature revealed 56 additional cases of hepatic actinomycosis. Affected patients were typically immunocompetent, had a wide age range (4-86 y) and were predominantly male (70.2%). Infection was frequently (80.7%) cryptogenic, presenting with fever (83.3%), abdominal pain (74.5%) and weight loss (50.9%) over a 3.7 +/- 5.1 month period. The most common radiographic finding was a single hypodense mass/abscess (68.4%). Extension to surrounding tissues was evident in 19 cases (33.3%). Diagnosis was usually accomplished microscopically and culture was often (33.3%) negative. Infection was often (35.2%) mixed, usually with anaerobic bacteria. A surgical or percutaneous approach was diagnostic in 29/35 (82.9%) and 24/33 (72.7%) cases, respectively. The overall mortality rate was 8.8%; it was 10.7% with medical therapy alone and 4.0% using a combined medical/intervention approach (p = 0.6). In conclusion, hepatic actinomycosis is a rare subacute infection that may mimic neoplasm. It is usually cryptogenic, is more common among immunocompetent individuals and male subjects and is highly responsive to medical therapy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, St John Hospital & Medical Center, Detroit, Michigan 48236, USA.
authors.forename: Mamta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sharma
authors.forename: Laurence E
authors.initials: LE
authors.lastname: Briski
authors.forename: Riad
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Khatib
mesh_terms: D000190:Actinomyces / Q000302:isolation & purification; D000196:Actinomycosis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000382:microbiology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008100:Liver Abscess / Q000382:microbiology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016896:Treatment Outcome