[Liver involvement in syphilis].

The authors report two cases of syphilitic hepatitis. In the first case, acute hepatitis occurred during the secondary stage of syphilis. The diagnosis was made without waiting for the hepatitis to respond to penicillin treatment, on the basis of the following signs: icterus involving inflammatory syndrome, moderate cytolysis, clear retention, eruption of papular syphilids and a strongly positive test for syphilis. The second case involved a female patient who had been treated 15 years earlier for bone syphilis with ulcerous gummas. The signs were sclerotic, gummatous, hepatic lesions revealed by a syndrome of calcified hepatic lesions. The serologic test for syphilis was negative in this patient. Laparotomy and biopsy were necessary before a firm diagnosis could be made. The authors examine literature data concerning this pathology.