Surgical treatment of thoracic hydatidosis. A review of 100 cases.

Hydatid cystic disease continues to hold an important place in chest disease in our country. The authors review their experience from 1977 to 1987 of 100 patients who underwent surgery for pulmonary hydatidosis. Mean age was 36.21 years. Fifty-nine cases were ruptured cysts (RC) and 41 were unruptured cysts (UC). The diagnosis was based on epidemiological, radiological and mainly serological and endoscopic criteria. The indirect haemagglutination test was positive in 100% of RC and 80% of UC, while 70.2% of the patients who underwent fiberoptic bronchoscopy showed pathological changes. The most commonly used surgical procedure in UC was open subtotal cystopericystectomy (89.09%), while wedge resection (41.81%) was the most commonly used technique for the RC. There were no operative deaths and no recurrences were observed for a mean follow-up of 5.4 years. The indications for adjuvant chemotherapy with mebendazole are presented.