[Clinical manifestations and late complications of the hepatic hydatid cyst: report of 4 cases].

INTRODUCTION

Hepatic hydatid cyst (HHC) may appear and remain free of symptoms for a long time, require treatment of its syptoms or relapse after an adequate treatment. The HHC relapse after a medical and surgical treatment is considered a complication of the disease as well as the infection, breakup or other complications.

OBJECTIVES

Describe four patients with HHC whose complication or relapse symptoms appeared between 13 and 26 years after the disease was known or adequately treated.

CASE REPORT: Four patients with previously diagnosed HHC and symptoms associated to its relapse or infection were retrospectively studied. Patient 1: woman, 48 years old, with diagnosis of HHC during a cholecistectomy in 1977, who showed a touchable mass in 1998. Patient 2: woman, 45 years old, with HHC surgery in 1973, who referred pain and HHC relapse in 1996. Patient 3: woman, 43 years old, with HHC diagnosed in 1980, who referred abdominal pain with increase of HHC volume in 1996. Patient 4: man, 60 years old, with HHC diagnosed in 1981, who referred fever in 1996 related to an abscess of the HHC. The four patients presented HHC relapse and symptoms due to its complications. Medical and surgical treatment was needed in all the cases.

CONCLUSIONS

We observed that HHC disease may present complications many years after its surgical treatment with late symptomatic relapses and that the non-treated disease may also develop complications many years after remaining asymptomatic.