[Rare forms of abdominal echinococcosis complicated by rupture]

This is a report on a series of twelve patients presenting ruptured echinococcus in the abdominal cavity, hollow abdominal organ and retroperitoneal space, observed in the period 1985 to 1997. The diagnostic and therapeutic problems faced are discussed with a special reference to the necessity of giving due consideration to these comparatively rare, but by no means less precarious complications in the clinical course of hydatid disease, particularly in endemic regions, such as Bulgaria.