[Cardiac hydatid cyst (report of 8 cases)]

Hydatic cardiac cyst (HCC) is a rare anomaly, characterized by wide spectrum of clinical presentations. Its diagnosis took large benefit from echocardiography progress. We aimed in this study to analyse epidemiologic aspect of HCC, as well as its diagnostic data, with special emphasize on echocardiography. Observations of 8 patients, admitted between 1991 and 2000 has been reviewed. Age average was 30 years (13 to 59). Main symptoms consisted of chest pain (62.5%) and dyspnea (35%). Chest X-Rays showed cardiac silhouette anomaly in 4 cases. Electrocardiogram showed sub-epicardical ischemia in 5 patients. HCC diagnosis was established by transthoracic echocardiography in all cases. It was located inside a cardiac chambers (n = 5), the interventricular septum (n = 2), and the pericardium (n = 1). HCC relation with adjacent cardiac structures was well defined by transoesophageal echocardiography performed in 7 cases. All patients underwent surgery with good immediate results. All patients were events free, with a mean follow-up of 25 months.