[Actinomycosis of the liver (author's transl)]

A case report is given of a 61 year old female patient, who came to the hospital with chronic pain in the right upper abdominal quadrant, fever, chills, dyspnea, and general weakness. 4 days later she died in hemorrhagic shock after having had melena. At postmortem an actinomycotic abscess of the size of a childs head was found in the left lobe of the liver; in addition there was a highly differentiated leiomyosarcoma of the duodenum. Isolated visceral actinomycosis is rare; it should however be thought of when the causes of liver abscesses are being scrutinized. Diagnosis can be established only bacterioiogically or histologically.