RESUMEN
Hepatic hydatidosis still remains a serious problem in general surgery. Recurrence and/or secondary hydatidosis rates are up to 25% in the cases treated with surgery alone. Albendazole is the most commonly used drug in the dual treatment of echinococcosis. To evaluate the effect of albendazole using the intraoperative and perioperative periods as dual therapy on recurrence of echinococcosis. Eighty-eight patients with hydatid disease who were operated upon for hepatic hydatid cysts between 1[st] of March 1998 and 31[st] of July 2006, in the Surgical Department of Erbil Teaching Hospital in Erbil City, Iraq, are included in this study. The patients were divided into two groups. The first group was treated with albendazole peri- and intra-operatively with surgery while the second [comparison] group was treated surgically alone and without albendazole. Peri-operative albendazole treatment was given in a dose of 12-15 mg/kg/day in four divided doses. The treatment was started 2-28 days before the surgery when the diagnosis was established and was continued for one month. Thirty six per cent of scoleces were viable in the treated group, while 80% of scolices were viable in the second [comparison] group [P < 0.005]. In the second [comparison] group there were four patients with sterile cysts and 15 patients with fertile and viable cysts but with no daughter cysts. In the treated patients there were only 3 [9%] with recurrent cysts that developed in the previous surgical field, compared with the second [comparison] group, where there were 13 patients [24%] who developed recurrent cysts. Dual albendazole treatment is effective in the prevention of recurrences and/or secondary hydatidosis