[Abdominal actinomycosis: four cases].

The abdominal actinomycosis (AA) is a rare and often unrecognised suppurative chronic illness. It is caused by an anaerobic Gram positive bacteria, Actinomyces israelii. Abdominal actinomycosis is responsible for pseudotumoral syndrome often leading, to a large and mutilating surgery whereas a prolonged treatment by antibiotics would have permitted to cure the disease. The diagnosis is obtained generally from anatomopathologic exam. We report four cases of abdominal actinomycosis being revealed by a pseudotumoral syndrome. The diagnosis was only made after surgery. In spite of an active treatment by antibiotics during several months, two of our patients had a relapse of the infectious process. These four observations confirm the diagnostic and therapeutic difficulties previously reported by other authors.