[Characterization of hepatic hydatid cysts of pseudotumor form. Scanner versus echography]

The authors report about a series of 38 patients with hepatic cysts (HHC) that had a pseudotumoral form on sonography (type IV in Gharbi's classification), that were explored both with sonography and with CT. While sonography had made the diagnosis of HHC possible in 4 cases out of 38 only, CT easily established this diagnosis in all cases. In addition, the latter technique has demonstrated the various tissue components accounting for the pseudotumoral sonographic image (hydatid sand, parietal calcifications, daughter cysts, intracystic air). It also allows assessing the number of sites and, better than with sonography, the signs of rupture of a hydatid cysts.