[Chlamydia trachomatis perihepatitis (Fitz Hugh-Curtis syndrome). Apropos of 20 cases]

We report a retrospective series of 20 cases of peri-hepatitis diagnosed using the laparoscope. They were all young women who were nulliparous or primiparous. In eight cases, the dominant clinical picture was of acute cholecystitis. In the other cases, asymptomatic peri-hepatitis was discovered when the laparoscope had been used to try to diagnose acute salpingitis. Chlamydia trachomatis is the principal aetiological agent (in 18 cases) and it has overtaken the gonococcus which was the common one in early publications but here was responsible for only one case. Treatment with tetracyclines or quinolones always brings about a cure. Whenever a young woman complains of pain in the right hypochondrium, one has to think of this infection as well as diagnosing and treating the associated salpingitis early.