Hydatid Disease, an Uncommon Etiology of Death in Forensic Practice

In Tunisia, hydatid cyst is an endemic parasitic disease. The cyst may remain asymptomatic, discovered accidentally, or in case of a complication, the most serious of which is sudden death. We propose, in this article, to analyze the degree of involvement of the cyst in the mechanism of death, through the review of 25 cases. A total of 7932 autopsy cases were performed during the study period. Twenty-five cases of hydatid cyst discovered at autopsy were collected and death was attributed to hydatid cyst in 13 cases. The seat of the cyst was variable and death was due to anaphylaxis in 10 cases, to hydatious embolism in 2 cases and to cardiac arrhythmia, resulting from a cardiac localization of a large hydatid cyst, in 1 case.Although rare, echinococcosis can be a life-threatening disease. Its involvement in the death mechanism remains difficult in many cases.