Our experiences in surgical treatment of thoracic echinococcosis during the period 1977–1986

Abstract

Our experience is based on 147 patients with thoracic echinococcosis (TE) who underwent surgery. Of these, 131 (89.1%) patients had pulmonary TE, 3 (2.1%) had extra-pulmonary TE, and 13 (8.8%) had pulmohepatic TE Ninety-nine (67.3%) patients had uncomplicated TE, and 48 (32.7%) had complicated TE. All patients underwent surgery. In 129 (87.8%) patients, we performed cystectomy with capitonage and in 18 (12.2%) cases we performed a lung resection (lobectomy or segmentectomy). Postoperative complications occurred in 2 (1.4%) patients, and recurrence in 2 (1.4%) patients who previously had complicated TE. On admission, there was no evidence of allergic reactions in patients with complicated TE. The average time of postoperative treatment was 13 days. The results of surgical treatment were excellent. The conclusion reached is that a cystectomy with capitonage is the treatment of choice for pulmonary echinococcosis, while lung resection may be necessary if lung tissue has been destroyed by prolonged compression or infection.

Surgical treatment of echinococcosis by a transthoracic approach: a review of 85 cases1

“…A review of 14 reports on 4255 patients with intrathoracic hydatidosis surgically treated, published in the recent decade (1988)(1989)(1990)(1991)(1992)(1993)(1994)(1995)(1996)(1997) and covering the period from the early 70's till now, revealed a perioperative mortality of 1.45% [1,2,5,[8][9][10][11][12][13][14][16][17][18]. The overall postoperative early and late morbidity ranged from near zero to 17% in 3433 patients [2,5,[8][9][10][12][13][14][16][17][18].…”

“…Hepatic hydatid cysts coexist with lung cysts in 4-14%, with a mean of 8.34% of all patients with pulmonary cysts [2,4,5,8,12,15,17,18,20,21,23,24]. The need to search for echinococcoci of the liver in every patient with lung hydatidosis, has been emphasized in the past [4,20].…”

“…Our policy in the surgical management of pulmonary hydatid disease is the conservative surgery. It is followed by the vast majority of thoracic surgeons [1,3,5,[8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15], and is especially justified in children [16,17]. A review of the practice of nine centers in surgical management of pulmonary hydatid cysts revealed that radical resection is performed approximately in 20% of all surgical procedures [1,5,[8][9][10][11][12]14,18].…”

“…The overall mortality rate after surgical management of intrathoracic (lung and liver dome) echinococcosis is very low (0-4.2%) [1][2][3]5,6,[8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25]. A review of 14 reports on 4255 patients with intrathoracic hydatidosis surgically treated, published in the recent decade (1988)(1989)(1990)(1991)(1992)(1993)(1994)(1995)(1996)(1997) and covering the period from the early 70's till now, revealed a perioperative mortality of 1.45% [1,2,5,[8][9][10][11][12][13][14][16][17][18].…”

Recurrent pulmonary hydatid disease: Analysis of ten cases

“…5 The lung is the second most commonly affected organ (10%-40%) after the liver. 6 About 75%-90% of pulmonary hydatid cysts are solitary and unilateral, whereas only 2%-30% are bilateral. 7 The prognosis of pulmonary hydatosis has improved dramatically in recent years, with better knowledge of the pathologic anatomy of the lung, technical advances, and early operative intervention.…”