[Abdominal actinomycosis. Actinomycotic abscess 10 years after appendectomy]

Abstract

A case of actinomycosis of the abdomen ten years after surgery for acute appendicitis is reported. The patient, a 2 1/2 years old girl at the time of operation, presented with acute abdominal pain ten years after appendectomy. Computed tomography (CT) showed a mass in the region of the right psoas muscle. Fine needle aspiration revealed pus which on culture was found to contain Actinomyces israeli. Since surgery is a well known probable cause of abdominal actinomycosis, we must assume the appendectomy and the formation of the actinomycotic abscess to be related. Discovery of an abdominal mass even years after violation of the gastrointestinal tract should arouse suspicion of an abscess involving these otherwise infrequent pathogens.