[Echinococcosis involvement of the heart]

A case report is given of a 37-year-old patient who had echinococcus infestment the heart. Diagnosis was established after drainage of the pericardium, when cysts of a diameter between 0.5 and 3 cm were evacuated. During this procedure the pericardium and the left ventricle were searched and revised extensively and drug therapy with Mebendazole was instituted. In spite of that a new cyst developed in the pericardium and a big cyst in the abdomen, was found which had practically transformed the whole left lobe of the liver into a cyst. Both lesions were removed surgically. It must be emphasized 1) that a very careful search of all organs liable to harbour echinococcus should be performed in patients who have cardiac involvement of the disease, 2) that chemotherapy will not prevent with necessity the development of fertile elements which could not be removed during surgery and 3) that patients have to be followed through several years in order to evaluate the success of therapy.