Uncommon locations of abdominal hydatid disease

South Chile is an endemic zoonosis area of hydatid disease, where prevalence rates can be 30 to 40/100 000 habitants. Not only is surgery performed on a great number of liver and lung hydatid cysts every year, but also upon cysts found in uncommon abdominal locations such as spleen, peritoneum and kidney. Information on this subject is scarce. We reviewed PubMed index from 1975 to 2001 and found only five related articles, reporting more than 30 cases.