Capsulorrhaphy in the management of liver hydatid cyst

Hydatid disease is a major health problem in some parts of the world. There are several nonoperative and operative ways to treat hydatic disease. The aim of this retrospective study is to assess the rate of postoperative complications, mortality rate, hospitalization period, and recurrence for capsulorrhaphy method, and to compare it with other hydatic cyst management techniques.

An open surgical procedure using capsulorrhaphy technique was performed on 250 patients (130 men and 120 women) with uncomplicated hydatic cysts in the Northwest of Iran, between 1989 and 2011.

The patients stayed in the hospital between 4 and 10 days, with an average of 5 days. Of the patients, 233 (93.2%) were discharged without any complications, 9 (3.6%) developed a wound infection in the abdominal wall, and 7 (2.8%) developed pulmonary atelectasis. Those who developed an infection or an atelectasis stayed in the hospital for few more days for conservative treatments. One of the patients (0.4%) had external biliary fistula and bile leak, which was treated with surgery and Roux-en-Y cystojejunostomy. During follow-ups (13.2 ± 8.5 months), incisional hernias occurred in 5 (2%) patients and hydatid cyst recurrence affected 7 (2.8) patients. The mortality rate was zero amongst the studied patients.

Compared to other techniques in the literature, the results presented in the current work indicate that capsulor-rhaphy is an efficient method in terms of decreased postoperative complications, recurrence, and hospitalization period, and is a safe method with low morbidity and zero mortality rates.