[Eighty cases of alveolar hydatid disease treated with albendazole]

Alveolar hydatid disease occurs frequently in Xiji County of Ningxia. 80 cases of the disease were treated orally with albendazole from 1985 to 1988 and the short-term results proved satisfactory. The treatment consisted of two groups. Group I included 72 cases which were orally given 8-10 mg/kg.d of albendazole 2 to 3 times a day after each meal for 30 days and then stop taking the medicine for 10 days as one treatment course. The treatment continued 3-12 months comprising about 24 courses were given with the highest dosage of 412g. Group II included 8 cases who were given 15.6-20 mg/kg.d of the medicine for 14 days (one course) and every two weeks with a 10 days interval. The treatment of group II continued 3-6 months which totalled 19-24 courses with the highest dosage of 270g. All the treated patients tolerate well except that a few of them felt giddy and had diarrhoea which disappeared after the withdrawal of medicine. Through 3-5 years, follow-up observation, it was found that the gener alsymptoms of the treated patients improved and their body weight increased by 2-9.5 kg, some of them could take part in light physical labour. The jaundice index in 80% of them returned to normal. SGPT in 86.4% decreased to within normal range. The enlarged livers in half of the patients decreased by 1-6 cm. 23.7% of the patients were reexamined by B ultrasound scanning which revealed that their enlarged liver reduced in size while the liquifaction area and the shadows of calcification in the livers in 42.5% patients increased obviously.