[Muscle hydatidosis. 15 cases]

The aim of this study was to analyse the epidemiological, diagnostic and therapeutic aspects of muscle hydatidosis.

This retrospective study included a series of 15 patients with hydatic muscular cysts operated on in our service over an eight year period. Five cysts were superficial and ten were deep. Patients were predominantly young adults (10 cases); M/F sex ratio was 2/1. Clinical signs included atypical pain, particularly for the deep localizations, and tumoral formations, particularly for superficial localizations. Diagnosis of muscle hydatidosis was made in some patients seen for complications or systematic search for another localization. A second hepatic localization was found in 5 cases and a splenic localization in one. Sonography provided the diagnosis in all cases although the exact localization could not be determined. A CT scan was performed in half the cases. Localizations included the diaphragm 7 cases, psoas 3 cases, and buttock, triceps, sartorius, anterior tibial and intercostal muscles 1 case each.

Surgical treatment was the same for all abdominal localizations, although different access routes were used. Partial pericystostomy was the basic procedure and gave excellent results. One case was complicated by a crural nerve lesion that recovered spontaneously. Recurrence in the diaphragm occurred in two cases and was successfully treated surgically two years later. One patient died due to acute liver failure subsequent to multiple cysts which had destroyed the entire liver.