Hydatid disease of the spleen

PubMed, the Internet portal of biomedical and life sciences literature, indexed an interesting article, entitled “Surgery in children with hydatid disease of the spleen” (J Pediatr Surg. 2006 Jul;41(7):1264-6 ). Authors are Kalinova K, Stefanova P and Bosheva M from the Department of General and Pediatric Surgery, High Medical School, Stara Zagora, Bulgaria. Hydatid disease of the spleen is a rare disease, and it occurs in 1% to 8% of all children with hydatid disease. From 1985 to 2004, in 152 children with hydatid disease, a splenectomy was performed in 14 cases, and a cystectomy was possible in only 1 case. Patients with combined forms successfully underwent different variations of cystectomy. Splenic involvement of hydatid disease has no specific clinical manifestation, the diagnosis is late and often leads to splenectomy. It has to be suspected in a patient with a splenic cyst and has to be confirmed by ultrasonography and/or computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, and immunologic tests. The early diagnosis is a good precondition for better results. To access the full abstract of the article, click here.