[Hydatid cyst of the kidney. Report of 45 cases]

The kidney is a rare site of hydatid disease. It remains clinically silent for a long time and only presents at the stage of complications. The diagnosis is essentially radiological. Renal hydatid cyst (RHC) raises therapeutic problems due to its complications, which sometimes make kidney-preserving cyst resection surgery difficult. The authors report a series of 45 cases of RHC treated in their department during a 20-year period. This series consisted of 27 men and 18 women with a mean age of 47 years (26-80 years). The clinical features were dominated by pain (80%), flank mass (42%), hydaturia (22%), haematuria (13%), urinary tract infection (6%), hypertension (3%). IVU, performed in all patients, showed calcifications in 35% of cases, renal tumour syndrome in 71% of cases and silent kidney in 22% of cases. Surgery was usually performed via a lumbar incision (75%) or a BARAYA incision (15%). Treatment consisted of 18 cyst roof resections (40%), 6 pericystectomies (13%), partial nephrectomy in 2 cases (4%) and total nephrectomy in 18 cases (40%). The postoperative course was marked by urinary fistula in two patients and one death at the 2nd postoperative month related to associated renal sarcoma. The objective of this study is to analyse the epidemiological, pathological and therapeutic features of this disease, which still constitutes a public health problem in Morocco.