title: Cardiac Echinococcosis: A Single-Centre Study with 25 Patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In this study, we aimed to analyse patients who underwent surgery for cardiac echinococcosis in our department.
  
  
  METHODS
  Between June 2005 and June 2013, 25 patients (15 male, 10 female) underwent cardiac hydatid cyst operation. The mean patient age was 33.4±12.6 (15-75) years.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The most common presenting symptom was dyspnoea. Cysts were located only in the heart in 16 patients, lung in 4 patients, liver in 4 patients, and brain with lung involvement in 1 patient. Concomitant cardiac and pulmonary surgery was performed in 2 patients. The cardiac hydatid cysts were intracavitary in 11 patients and extracavitary in 14 patients. We used cardiopulmonary bypass in all but 1 patient, who presented with an extracavitary cyst. In 3 patients, surgery was performed with cardiopulmonary bypass without cross-clamping of the aorta. There were no mortalities in the early follow-up period.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Cardiac echinococcosis is a rare but fatal disease and should be surgically treated when diagnosed. There is some controversy about how echinococcosis spreads to the heart (via haematogenous spread or direct extension from adjacent structures). According to our study, we think that haematogenous spread is the main method of the distribution of cardiac echinococcosis, and the direct extension method from adjacent structures must be questioned.
authors.affiliation: Gaziantep University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Gaziantep, Turkey. Electronic address: alpyasim@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Alptekin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yasim
authors.affiliation: Gaziantep University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Gaziantep, Turkey.
authors.forename: Hasim
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ustunsoy
authors.affiliation: Gaziantep University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Gaziantep, Turkey.
authors.forename: Gokhan
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Gokaslan
authors.affiliation: Gaziantep University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Gaziantep, Turkey.
authors.forename: Erhan
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hafız
authors.affiliation: Gaziantep University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Gaziantep, Turkey.
authors.forename: Yavuz
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Arslanoglu
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D006348:Cardiac Surgical Procedures; D002315:Cardiopulmonary Bypass; D004443:Echinococcosis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000469:parasitology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged
keywords: Cardiac; Epidemiology; Hydatid disease; Outcomes