title: Hydatid disease of the abdomen and other locations.
abstract: We present patients treated for hydatid disease in our hospital (in northeastern Greece) over the last 20 years. In the period from 1984 to 2003, a total of 135 patients (54 male, 81 female) were treated for echinococcal disease (age 15-85 years). In 111 (82.2%) patients only the liver was affected; 9 (6.7%) patients had concomitant hepatic and extrahepatic hydatid disease; and 15 (11.1%) patients had only extrahepatic disease. Clinical symptoms in patients with hepatic locations of the disease included abdominal pain localized in the epigastrium or right upper quadrant of the abdomen, tenderness, hepatomegaly with palpable abdominal mass, jaundice, fever, and anaphylactic reaction. All the patients were treated surgically. Surgical techniques included partial cystectomy and drainage, cystectomy and capitonage, cystectomy and omentoplasty, only drainage, left lateral hepatectomy, total pericystectomy, and laparoscopic pericystectomy. Rupture into the bile duct was managed by T-tube drainage or biliodigestive anastomosis. Symptoms and surgical treatment for extrahepatic cysts varied according to the location of the cyst. The median cyst diameter of all patients was 11 cm. The postoperative complication rate was 17.0%. Two patients died (1.5%). The median hospital stay was 18 days. The recurrence rate was 6.7%. The study suggests that treatment of this benign disease should be the less radical surgical technique combined with pre- and postoperative anthelmintic administration. The surgical treatment should be combined with careful use of scolicidal fluids and aspiration of the cyst to avoid contamination and minimize the risk of recurrence.
authors.affiliation: 2nd Department of Surgery and Department of Experimental Surgery, Medical School, Democritus University of Thrace, 6 I. Kaviri Street, Alexandroupolis, 68100 Greece. tsihrin@otenet.gr
authors.forename: Alexandra K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Tsaroucha
authors.forename: Alexandros C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Polychronidis
authors.forename: Nikolaos
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Lyrantzopoulos
authors.forename: Michail S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Pitiakoudis
authors.forename: Anastasios
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: J Karayiannakis
authors.forename: Konstantinos J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Manolas
authors.forename: Constantinos E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Simopoulos
mesh_terms: D034841:Abdominal Cavity / Q000469:parasitology*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000871:Anthelmintics / Q000627:therapeutic use; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004443:Echinococcosis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000601:surgery*; D004444:Echinococcosis, Hepatic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006115:Greece / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D000871:Anthelmintics