Immunodiagnosis of abdominal hydatid disease. Difficulties in the radiological and scintillographic localization of cysts.

A diagnosis of hydatid disease was established by the arc 5 double diffusion (DD5) test in two persons who had no symptoms, of whom one had had prior surgery for this parasitic infection. The location of some cysts which were removed surgically from these patients could not be determined in preoperative radiological and scintillographic studies. Postoperative serological monitoring by DD5 showed that one of these patients, though without symptoms, was harbouring an additional cyst. Abdominal x-rays showed no abnormalities, a partially calcified 2.7 cm cyst was detected in the right lobe of the liver by computerized axial tomography.