[Hepatic brucelloma (pseudotumoral brucellar caseous necrosis of the liver). Study of a case and review of the literature]. / Brucellome hépatique. (Nécrose caséeuse brucellienne hépatique pseudo-tumorale). Etude d'un cas et revue de la littérature.

We report the case of a 43 year-old Portuguese woman, hospitalized for long-standing fever, fatigue and weight-loss. Biologic investigation demonstrated anicteric cholestasis. Abdominal plain film showed a single hepatic calcification; computerized tomography and ultrasonography of the liver led to the discovery of a large mass, centered by the calcification. C. T.-guided biopsy showed caseiform necrosis, surrounded by histiocytic and lymphocytic cells. Brucella agglutination tests were negative at the beginning of the illness but became positive secondarily. The germ was not isolated from the hepatic fragment. The melitine intradermo-reaction was positive. Outcome was rapidly favorable with antibiotic treatment. Analysis of the 14 previously published cases showed that the most constant features were the hepatic calcifications and the epidemiologic context.

[Histomorphometric study of the gastric mucosa in portal hypertension]. / Etude histomorphométrique de la muqueuse gastrique au cours de l'hypertension portale.

Histologic features of the gastric (antral and fundic) mucosa in 14 patients with portal hypertension due to alcoholic cirrhosis and a mosaic pattern of the fundic mucosa at endoscopic examination have been compared with those of the gastric mucosa in 14 control subjects. We attempted to correlate endoscopic and histologic aspects using a semiquantitative morphometric study in which the height of the mucosa, the number per mm2 and the diameter of vascular sections of the interglandular chorion, and the number per mm2 of large (greater than or equal to 20 micron) vascular sections of the superficial chorion were measured. For all parameters, the mean values were higher in cirrhotic patients than in controls, but significant differences were found only in the antral mucosa (height of the mucosa and number of large vascular sections in the superficial chorion). These results confirm the frequency and the importance of vascular abnormalities of the gastric mucosa in patients with portal hypertension, but do not explain, at least with the methodology used, the mosaic pattern of the fundic mucosa disclosed in most cirrhotic patients.