Serious complications of hydatid cyst of the lung.

Abstract

Hydatid disease is still very prevalent in Iraq both in humans and in animals. The middle and southern parts of the country are considered to be persistently endemic areas with a relatively high infestation rate (1, 2). Hydatid cyst could affect all ages and both sexes. No organ or tissue is spared. The cyst has been found in the brain, spinal cord, bones, kidneys, spleen, eyes, and heart. The liver is the highest and the lung is rated second as the sites most frequently affected. Hydatid cysts of the lung constituted about 25 to 33 per cent of all cases of hydatid. In one of the chest service units a total of about 115,000 persons with or without respiratory symptoms were reported to have had chest roentgenograms taken from 1960 to 1965. A shadow highly suspicious of hydatid cyst was found in approximately one in 100 cases. Operations were performed in 31 per cent of those patients, and the presence of hydatid cyst was verified (table 1) . In three major hospitals in Baghdad approximately 100 patients are operated upon annually for hydatid of the lung, and at least three times that number are reported but not operated upon, either because of bed shortage or the patient's reluctance. Hydatid cyst of the lung is not always a benign process. It is often symptomatic and produces a good deal of morbidity. Serious complications and death may occur. During the last six years some serious complications occurred at the Republic Hospital, and it is the writer's hope that drawing attention to these occurrences may ultimately lead to their reduction or prevention. The complications witnessed and studied are described in the following cases.