[Primary echinococcosis of the heart in pulmonary tuberculosis]

The paper presents a sectional case of primary cardiac Echinococcus infection in a patient with fibrocavernous pulmonary tuberculosis. A whitish thin-wall round-oval cyst, 2 cm across, was detected in the thickness of the lateral left ventricular wall at autopsy. The tinctorial properties of the cyst sheath suggested that the parasite might be viable. The internal germinal layer of its sheath showed minor filial vesicles provided with scolexes. An extensive area of tissue detritis was perifocally detectable near the cystic wall, then peripherally there was a fibrous capsule with developed plethoric vessels and polymorphically cellular inflammatory infiltrate with a predominance of lymphocytes, macrophages, eosinophilic leukocytes, and fibroblasts. Parasitic cardiac damage along with tuberculous infection of respiratory organs had played an important role in the decompensation of performance of the hypertrophic heart and referred to the unified category of the second malaise in the mixed underlying disease.