Juvenile idiopathic chronic calcifying pancreatitis: report of 10 cases from central Tunisia.

A series of 10 cases of chronic calcifying pancreatitis from central Tunisia are reported. The mean age at presentation was 23 years and the male to female ratio was 1.5. The main clinical manifestations of the disease were abdominal pain (eight cases), weight loss (four cases), and diarrhea (three cases). Diabetes was recorded in four cases. The etiological investigations yielded negative results in all the patients. It is concluded that central Tunisia should be added to the regions where juvenile chronic calcifying pancreatitis of the "tropical type" may be observed.

[Abdominothoracic hydatidosis. Evaluation of 5 years' activity of the surgical service of the Farhat Hached de Sousse University Hospital]. / L'hydatidose abdomino-thoracique. Bilan de 5 ans d'activité du service de chirurgie de l'Hôpital Universitaire Farhat Hached de Sousse.

The authors report a statistical study of abdominal and/or pulmonary locations of hydatid cyst disease operated on at Farhat Hached hospital (Sousse, Tunisia) during a five years period. Between January 1980 and December 1984, 465 patients were operated on by Pr Gharbi's staff. 255 patients had hydatid cyst disease of the liver. 68% of them were more than 30 years of age and 67% were females. 16% of these patients had obviously complicated lesions. This rate was as high in adults as in children less then 15 years old. The basic surgical procedure was a more or less extensive partial pericystectomy. The mean hospital stay in surgical environment was 33 days. The mortality rate in this group was 5.9% (15 deaths). 195 patients had pulmonary hydatid cyst disease. 83% of them were less then 30 years of age and 57% were males. The complication rate at presentation was 30% and was similar among adults and children less 15 years of age. Despite the fact that 15% of these patients have been treated by lobectomy, the basic surgical procedure in this group was also a more or less extensive partial pericystectomy. The mean hospital stay in surgical environment was 15 days and the mortality rate 0.5% (one death). About the other locations of the disease, 7 cases of peritoneal ecchinococcosis were recorded. The youngest patient was 15 years old. The interventions necessitated by the whole of these locations represented no less than 8.65% of the surgical procedures performed in our service.