[Hepatic alveolar echinococcosis: a rare cause of recurrent, surgically curable abdominal pain in children]

Abstract

Hepatic alveolar echinococcosis is a rare parasitic zoonosis, potentially lethal in childhood. It is due to Echinococcosis multilocularis whose larva insidiously develops in the liver. We report the case of a 13-year-old girl, living in the Vosges Mountains, followed for recurrent abdominal pain, with recent worsening. Diagnosis of alveolar echinococcosis was immediately suspected based on the liver ultrasound scan and then confirmed by imaging (CT scan, NMR) and serology. A curative surgical treatment (segmentectomy) was performed 3 months after diagnosis, under oral albendazole treatment, maintained for at least 2 years. Hepatic alveolar echinococcosis usually has a negative prognosis, except if diagnosed early, which allows rapid surgical treatment, as in our patient.