title: [Psoas abscess of the adult: study of 38 cases].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Our aim is to report the clinical aspects, the etiologies, the treatment and the evolution of the psoas abscess in the adult.
  
  
  METHODS
  Our retrospective study concerns 38 cases of psoas abscesses collected in the Department of Infectious Diseases of Sfax (Tunisia), over a period of 16 years (January 1990 - December 2005).
  
  
  RESULTS
  The average age is 44 years (extremes: 16-76 years). The sex-ratio is 1.4. Six patients were diabetics and one had a chronic renal injury at the stage of hemodialysis. The clinical manifestations were: a fever (76.4%), an abdomino-pelvic ache (84.2%) and a psoitis (34.2%). All patients had a biologic inflammatory syndrome with a hyperleucocytosis in 28 cases. The abscess was one-sided in 29 cases and bilateral in 9 cases. After microbiological study and/or histological study, pathogens were identified in 31 patients, they were Staphylococcus aureus (10 cases), Staphylococcus lugdunensis (1 case), Streptococci (3 cases), Escherichia coli (2 cases), Bacteroides fragilis (1 case), Actinomyces (2 cases), Brucella (3 cases), Mycobacterium tuberculosis (8 cases) and Candida glabrata (1 case). The psoas abscess was primary in 10 cases and secondary in 28 cases. All the patients received an antibiotherapy or an antifungal therapy adapted to the micro-organism in cause, with a drainage of the abscess in 25 cases (surgical in 9 cases and percutaneous in 16 cases). The evolution was favourable in 36 cases. One patient presented recurrences and one patient died.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The psoas abscess of the adult is characterized by a polymorphe clinical presentation. Germs in cause are very variable.
authors.affiliation: Service des Maladies Infectieuses, CHU Hédi Chaker, Sfax, Tunisie.
authors.forename: Boussayma Khemakhem
authors.initials: BK
authors.lastname: Hammami
authors.forename: Houda
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ghorbel
authors.forename: Fairouz
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Abid
authors.forename: Nozba
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ben Arab
authors.forename: Imed
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Maâloul
authors.forename: Adnène
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hammami
authors.forename: Mounir
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ben Jemâa
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016659:Psoas Abscess / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000382:microbiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies