Experience of surgical therapy in 72 patients with thoracic hydatidosis over a 10-year period.

OBJECTIVE

This review aims to evaluate retrospectively 72 patients diagnosed to have thoracic hydatid disease and treated surgically in Tikur Anbessa Hospital between December 1993 and November 2003.

DESIGN

Retrospective Analysis hospital records.

SETTINGS: Tikur Anbessa Hospital, Department of Surgery, Medical Faculty, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

PATIENTS AND

METHODS

Medical records and Operation theater registers of seventy-two Patients operated on for Thoracic hydatidosis were evaluated retrospectively. Chest Roentgenogram was the main diagnostic tool used Main surgical techniques employed were evacuation in 44 (52.4%) cysts, cystotomy in 30 (35.7%) cysts, and enucleation in 10 (12%) cysts. Additional palliative procedures (such as pericystectomy and Capitonnage) and radical procedures (such as resection of the lung) were also employed.

RESULTS

forty of the patients were male and thirty-two female with a mean age of 31.4 years. The most Common presenting symptoms were cough in 60 (83.3%) patients, expectoration in 47 (65.3%) patients and chest pain in 38 (52.8%) patients. Chest radiography revealed a round opacity or shadow in 58 (80.6%) patients. All patients were treated surgically. The mean hospital stay was 38.3 days. Major postoperative Complications occurred in 12 (16.9%) patients; pneumonia, pleural effusion and prolonged air leak were the complications in order of their frequency. There was one postoperative death and one recurrence at 6-months follow-up period.

CONCLUSION

Surgical excision of pulmonary hydatidosis with maximum preservation of lung parenchyma is possible in the majority of patients and should remain the mainstay of surgical treatment.