Surgical management of cardiac hydatidosis.

Cardiac hydatidosis is extremely uncommon; only a few case series have been reported in the worldwide medical literature. Whereas hydatid cysts develop in the liver or lungs in 90% of patients who have hydatidosis, only 0.5% to 2% of patients thus diagnosed have cysts of the heart. Herein, we present the clinical summaries of 4 patients who had cardiac hydatid cysts-0.5% of the 763 patients who underwent surgery for thoracic hydatidosis over a period of 20 years at Ibn-Alnafis Teaching Hospital in Baghdad, Iraq. In addition, we discuss our operative technique. A year after surgical treatment and medical therapy, all 4 patients were free of hydatid disease.