Alveolar echinococcosis : An unusual liver mass in a Thai Patient.

ABSTRACT

We report herein the case of a 40-year-old Thai woman who developed a hepatic tumor like lesion suspected to be cholangiocarcinoma. The patient underwent hepatic surgery and the heptatic mass was sent for a histopathological examination. The gross section of the hepatic mass demonstrated alveolar echinococcosis, which showed the specfic rostellar hooks of Echinococcus multilocularis metacestodes. As our patient had been record, it was highly likely that this alveolar echinococcosis had been contacted foreign country. The laboratory tests showed no eosinophilia. After surgery, the patient was treated with albendazole which led to improvement of went of the disease. To our knowledge this is the first described case of alveolar echinococcosis (AE), as the diagnosis of this disease is usually found in the to chronic phase. This study also reviewed comparative echinococcosis and previously reported cases in Thailand. The alveolar echinococcosis is outlined with respect to this helminthic infection a long with recent contributions in areas of parasitology, pathology, diagnosis and transmission.