Hydatid disease of the spleen (report of 2 cases).

Hydatid disease is endemic in Middle East as well as other parts of the world including New Zealand and Australia [Altinors N, Senveli E, Donmez T, Bavbek M, Kars Z, Sanli M. Management of problematic intracranial hydatid cyst. Infection 1995;23:283-7]. Passing eggs from definite hosts--dogs and some wild carnivores--are ingested by intermediate hosts--humans and herbivores [Begg I, The radiology of hydatid disease. Am J Roentgenol 1985;145;639-48]. Larva penetrate the intestinal mucosa and reach the circulation, lodging and encysting in the body organs [Vahedian-Ardakani J. Hydatid cyst of the liver presenting as cutaneous abscesses. Ann Saudi Med 1997;17(2);235-7]. Liver and lungs account for more than 90% of organ involvements. Splenic involvement is rare occurrence of about 2.5%. [Franquet T, Montes M, Lecumberri FJ, Esparza J, Bescos JM. Hydatid disease of the spleen: imaging findings in nine patients. Am J Roentgenol 1990;154:525-8]. Here we report two cases of hydatid disease of the spleen in Izeh, a city in Khuzestan Province of Iran.