[Descriptive epidemiology of extrapulmonary hydatid cysts: a report of 265 Tunisian cases]

Hydatidosis is a parasitic endemic disease in Tunisia. The liver and lung are the most common sites of involvement; however, it can develop anywhere in the body.

The aim of the present study was to analyse the epidemiological features of extrapulmonary hydatid cysts and compare our results with those reported in literature.

A retrospective study of 265 extrapulmonary hydatid cysts collected over the 18-year period from 1990 to 2007 was undertaken.

There were 101 male and 164 female patients (sex ratio M/F = 0.61) ranging in age from 2 to 84 years (mean age = 38.7). In our series, hydatid cysts involved mainly the kidney (24.1%), the central nervous system (22.6%), the liver (19.6%) and the spleen (11.3%). The other less frequent sites included the peritoneum (n = 9), heart (n = 9), bone (n = 6), adrenal gland (n = 4), epiploon (n = 4), orbit (n = 4), ovary (n = 3), prostate (n = 2), bladder (n = 2), breast (n = 2), Douglas' cul-de-sac (n = 2), diaphragm (n = 1), testis (n = 1), broad ligament (n = 1), mediastinum (n = 1), nasal cavity (n = 1), soft tissue (n = 1), abdominal wall (n = 1), parotid gland (n = 1), psoas muscle (n = 1), synovia (n = 1), thymus (n = 1) et le pancreas (n = 1).

In contrast to literature, our results show that hydatid cysts of the kidney and of the central nervous system are more frequent than hepatic location which occupies the 3rd rank.