Intrapulmonary rupture of hydatid cysts of the liver.

Modern Greece is severely infested by hydatid disease. In two statistical studies made by one of us (Toole, 1930, 1937) 5,107 cases of hydatid cysts, observed in Greece between 1900 and 1936, have been collected. In a recent report Maccas and Kourias (1951) completed the statistics up to 1950, adding another 6,000 cases. Seven hundred and sixteen cases were operated upon during 1949, an indication of the present frequency of hydatid disease in Greece. According to Maccas and Kourias the five countries most infested by echinococcus are, in the order of its incidence, Uruguay, Cyprus, Greece, Chile, and Argentina. Another interesting observation from Greek statistics is the frequency of lung echinococcus, amounting to 30%. A high incidence of pulmonary cysts is also recorded in Cyprus, Italy, and Australia. It is not the aim of the present article to dwell on the frequency or the pathology of the cysts, but to describe the clinical aspects of a severe if rare pulmonary complication due to rupture of cysts of the liver.