[Hepatic amebiasis in French Polynesia. Study of 42 cases ]

The authors aimed at describing and analysing retrospectively the clinical, serological, anatomical and evolutive aspects of 42 cases of hepatic amoebiasis treated and followed up in Papeete (French Polynesia) from 1984 to 1990. Painful hepatomegalia with fever, was a revealing sign once out of two. Complications started at initial stage only twice. Amoebic serology (by immunofluorescence or hemagglutination) was always positive, while pathogenic amoeba was absent in 95.2 p.c. of the cases. Hepatic amoebiasis always produces an intra-hepatic collection of pus: to that point of view, superiority of echotomography on other methods of investigation is evident, particularly to diagnose multiple collections (45.25 p.c. in this series). Recovery was always got, in most of the cases by only a medical treatment (39 cases) or in association with a puncture (2 cases). Nitro-imidazol compounds are the preferred treatment. They were efficient in all cases but one, and were always followed by a systematic colic parasiticidal treatment with a contact amoebicide.