Surgical management of splenic hydatidosis

This study was conducted to evaluate the surgical management of splenic hydatidosis in an area where the disease is endemic.

Over a period of 16 years, 26 patients with splenic hydatidosis underwent surgery in our department. Preoperative investigations included plain abdominal X-ray, serology, ultrasonography, and computed tomography.

In our series, splenic hydatidosis represented 3.5% of total abdominal hydatidosis. The majority of patients presented with abdominal discomfort and palpable swelling in the left hypochondrium. Twenty-two patients were operated on electively and 4 as emergency cases, including 2 with ruptured hydatids and 2 with infected hydatids of the spleen. Isolated splenic hydatid cysts were present in 21 patients, associated liver hydatid cysts in 4, and diffuse abdominal hydatidosis in 1 patient. All patients underwent splenectomy except for one patient who initially had partial splenectomy for a lower polar cyst. This patient also ended up undergoing a splenectomy for postoperative hemorrhage. One patient died on the sixth postoperative day (mortality rate 3.8%) as a result of multiorgan failure, and 4 developed minor complications (morbidity 15.4%).

Splenic hydatidosis, although rare, is the third most common type of hydatidosis after liver and lung hydatidosis. This entity should thus be kept in mind when encountering a splenic cyst especially in areas where the disease is endemic. A splenectomy remains the treatment of choice because it demonstrates low morbidity and mortality rates.