The diagnosis of liver hydatid disease in children by scintigraphy.

The results of scintigraphy in 143 children with suspected hydatid disease are reported. In 65 cases, the presence of cysts as detected by scintigraphy was confirmed at surgery. In 78 cases, scintigraphy ruled out liver hydatid disease. In 52 cases with confirmed liver HC, only conventional colloid scintigraphy was carried out. A review of images is performed. In 13 patients, with a total number of 19 cysts, blood pool liver scintigraphy was done in order to investigate the degree of vascularization of the space-occupying lesion, disclosed earlier by colloid scan, and clarify its nature. A review of images is performed. The importance of the procedure is discussed reaching to the conclusion that it is advantageous to carry out colloid and blood pool liver scintigraphy prior to surgical treatment of liver hydatid disease.