title: Effect of surgical removal of hydatid cyst on echinococcus-specific and polyclonal IgE antibodies: An aid for postoperative follow-up studies.
abstract: To evaluate the significance of IgE antibodies in postoperative follow-up studies of patients with primary hydatidosis, 24 patients with detectable levels of Enchinococcus granulosus-specific IgE as determined by radioallergosorbent test (RAST) were re-examined one month and four months after surgical resection of the cyst. Serum levels of polyclonl IgE as determined by paper radiommunosorbent test (PRIST) were also determined before and after surgery. Anti-Enchinococcus IgE was undetected in 75% and 89% of patients with hepatic or pulmonary hydatidosis, respectively, four months after surgery. In addition, significant decline was observed in the serum polyclonal IgE four months after surgical removal of the cyst in both hepatic and pulmonary hydatidosis. However, surgical removal of pulmoary cyst alone showed no such effect on either polyclonal or Enchinococcus-specific IgE in hepatopulmonary hydatidosis. The results suggest that determination of specific an polyclonal IgE antibodies provide useful serological tests for prognosis and early detection of persistence and recurrence of hydatid disease postoperatively.
authors.affiliation: Departments of Community Medicine, and Microbiology, College of Medicine, University of Baghdad, Iraq.
authors.forename: J K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Al-Diwan
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Al-Balaghi
authors.forename: T S
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Al-Hadithi