[Epidemiology of extrapulmonary hydatid cysts: 265 Tunisian cases].
OBJECTIVE
The authors wanted to analyze the epidemiological features of extrapulmonary hydatid cysts and compare their results with those reported in literature.


METHODS
Two hundred and sixty-five cases of extrapulmonary hydatid cysts collected from 1990 to 2007 were retrospectively studied.


RESULTS
One hundred and one male and 164 female patients (sex ratio M/F=0.61 mean age 38.7 years) were included. In our series, hydatid cysts involved mainly the kidney (24.1%), the central nervous system (22.6%), the liver (19.6%) and the spleen (11.3%).


CONCLUSIONS
Contrary to published data, our results show that hydatid cysts of the kidney and of the central nervous system are more frequent than hepatic location which ranks 3rd. Such unusual results may be due to a selection bias.
Bellil
S
S
Service d'anatomie pathologique, hôpital La Rabta, Bab Saadoun, 1007 Tunis, Tunisie.
Limaiem
F
F
Bellil
K
K
Chelly
I
I
Mekni
A
A
Haouet
S
S
Kchir
N
N
Zitouna
M
M
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002493:Central Nervous System Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000469:parasitology; D004443:Echinococcosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D004444:Echinococcosis, Hepatic / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007674:Kidney Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000469:parasitology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013158:Splenic Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000469:parasitology; D014416:Tunisia / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult