Surgical treatment of echinococcosis by a transthoracic approach: a review of 85 cases.

OBJECTIVE Human echinococcosis remains a serious health problem for the Mediterranean countries, among them Greece. As there is no effective medical therapy, surgery is still the treatment of choice. MATERIAL AND METHODS We present our experience in the surgical management of hydatidosis by a transthoracic approach, based on 85 patients (49 male, 36 female, aged 4-86 years) treated during 1986-1996. RESULTS Twenty-one patients (26.3%) appeared with complications as: hydatidemesis (n = 5), hydropneumothorax (n = 3), cyst infection (n = 3), empyema thoracis (n = 8), cholebronchial (n = 3) and cholebronchopleural fistula (n = 1). The location of the cysts was: 61 in the lungs (right, 29; left, 24; bilateral, eight), 31 on the liver dome, six in the pleural cavity, two in the mediastinum, and one in each of pericardium, chest wall, and right pararenal space. Surgical approach involved a thoracotomy or median sternotomy in all cases. Pulmonary endocystectomy and capitonnage was the procedure of choice in the surgical management. Hepatic cysts were approached through a right thoracophrenotomy and were managed with evacuation of the main and daughter cysts, suture of the diaphragm to the margins of the cyst, and drainage of the cystic and pleural cavities. There was no in-hospital mortality. Major postoperative complications were: empyema thoracis (n = 3), biliary fistula (n = 2), and bronchopleural fistula (n = 1). Five patients presented later with seven recurrences of the disease. CONCLUSION Transthoracic approach is a good and safe choice in surgical treatment of both the intrathoracic and the (concomitant or not) hydatid cysts on the upper surface of the liver.