ABSTRACT
Hydatid disease (HD), already known by Hippocrates, is prevalent and widespread in most sheep-raising countries in Asia, Australia, South America, Near East, and southern Europe. The disease is most commonly due to Echinococcus granulosus and may occur in any organ or tissue. The location is mostly hepatic (75 %) and pulmonary (15 %), and only 10 % occur in the rest of the body [1]. Imaging modalities such as US, CT, and MR imaging are helpful in diagnosing the disease. The reliability of each method depends on the cyst's location in the body [2-5]. The purpose of this essay is to illustrate the use of CT in depicting some unusual locations of HD besides the liver and lung.
Subject(s)
Echinococcosis/diagnostic imaging , Tomography, X-Ray Computed , Bone Diseases/diagnosis , Bone Diseases/parasitology , Brain Diseases/diagnosis , Brain Diseases/parasitology , Echinococcosis/diagnosis , Humans , Magnetic Resonance Imaging , Muscular Diseases/diagnosis , Muscular Diseases/parasitology , Peritoneal Diseases/diagnosis , Peritoneal Diseases/parasitology , Splenic Diseases/diagnosis , Splenic Diseases/parasitology , Urologic Diseases/diagnosis , Urologic Diseases/parasitologyABSTRACT
Primary treatment of liver hydatidosis is surgical, but the recurrence rate is about 10%. To minimize the risk of recurrence, 67 consecutive patients with liver hydatidosis were prospectively treated by mebendazole or albendazole for 5 days before surgery. During the operation the viability of the protoscoleces was assessed. Seventeen patients who had viable protoscoleces at the time of the operation received the same benzimidazole one extra month postoperatively, while the remaining 50 patients who had dead protoscoleces didn't receive postoperative therapy. None of the patients developed recurrence of the disease after a follow-up period of 15-67 months (average 41 months). These results suggest that a 5-day preoperative benzimidazole therapy either combined or not with a monthly postoperative course according to the viability of the protoscoleces at the time of operation, may erase the risk of recurrence after surgical treatment of the liver hydatidosis.
