[Clinical presentation of hydatid disease during 15 years: a case series from Santiago, Chile]

Hydatidosis is a neglected parasitic disease that is endemic in Chile. We present the clinical experience of a single center in Santiago from 1996 to 2010.

Cases were identified using hospital's database. Clinical and pathological features, treatment and outcomes were retrospectively analyzed.

In total, 23 patients were identified requiring 30 surgical interventions. Median age was 40 years old (range 5 to 73), and 76.5% visited or resided in regions of known endemicity in Chile. Abdominal cysts were predominant (78.3%), and most patients were symptomatic (73.9%). Elimination of cyst material by cough was reported in 42.9% of patients with symptomatic thoracic cysts. Eosinophilia was present in 41.2% of patients, and 57.1% had positive serology for hydatidosis. All patients underwent surgical treatment, in 60.9% in combination with albendazole treatment. While the majority of liver cysts (88.9%) were treated by complete cyst resection, lung cysts (83.3%) were predominantly treated by cyst resection plus capitonnage. Pathological examination revealed fertile cysts in 24%. Postsurgical morbidity was frequent (37.9%), and 13.3% of the series required readmission for this cause. Near 25% of patients remained in hospital > 14 days, a feature associated with fever during admission (p < 0.05). No recurrence was reported in the fraction of patients that were followed-up for 2 years or more.

Our analysis of 23 cases demonstrates that patients were mainly adults suffering from abdominal cysts. Most patients were successfully treated by surgery with or without antiparasitic drugs but complications leading to prolonged hospital stays and readmissions were not infrequent.