Surgical treatment of bilateral hydatid disease of the lung

To evaluate the various tactics and approaches in the surgical treatment of bilateral pulmonary hydatidosis (BPH).

Between 1969 and 2000, a total of 127 BPH patients underwent surgery. The operative techniques of choice were parenchyma-preserved methods. Up to 1988, two-stage operations via thoracotomies were performed on 30 patients. One-stage operations with successive thoracotomies were carried out on two patients. Since 1988, only four patients underwent two-stage operations. One-stage surgery was carried out on 91 patients: 82 via median sternotomy (MS), one via clamshell incision, four through successive thoracotomies and three through video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) and mini-thoracotomies. One-stage bilateral lower lobectomies via MS were performed on one patient. In 11 cases, the concomitant dome localized liver cysts were extirpated via right phrenotomy during MS. Sterno-laparotomy was performed on 11 patients: for associated hepatic (seven), and hepatic and spleen cystectomies (four). In eight cases, abdominal echinococcosis was operated on a second stage, and in one case, a complicated hepatic cyst was extirpated on a first stage.

No intraoperative deaths occurred. The postoperative mortality rate was 0.78%; one patient died of pulmonary embolism. No fatal complications have appeared in eight cases (skin suppuration, residual pleural cavity and atelectasis). Adult respiratory distress syndrome was successfully treated in one case after MS. The long-term postoperative results are considered very good, with no recurrences observed.

One-stage surgery is superior to a classic two-stage approach as it decreases the morbidity, hospital stay and costs. MS is an excellent approach, but in some cases, VATS mini-thoracotomies could be indicated.