Retrovesical hydatidosis associated with urinary tract pathology - case report

Abstract

Cystic hydatidosis (CH) is a worldwide distributed parasitic zoonosis. It is considered one of the 17 neglected parasitic tropical diseases, among cysticercosis and soil transmitted helminthiases. CH is caused by the larval stage of Echinococcus granulosus, a tapeworm that usually infects dogs and other carnivorous animals as definitive hosts and herbivorous animals and rarely humans as intermediate hosts. Main primary localizations are the liver and the lung. In less than 3% they can primarily be present in the spleen. Treatment is mainly surgical, in some cases resulting in reoccurrence. In this paper we present the case of a male 55 years old patient who underwent a surgical intervention on his spleen for a solitary hydatid cyst as primary localization. Fifteen years after the operation the patient presented macroscopic haematuria; routine laboratory findings presented soft eosinophilia, 5%, without any other modification. There was found no palpable tumour in the pelvis by rectal examination. Abdominal ultrasound investigation revealed a 2×1 cm formation in the urinary bladder at the base of the left bladder-wall and a retrovesical, inhomogeneous 10×10 cm tumour with multiple septa and transonic zones. Computed tomography (CT) scan strongly suggested the presence of a bladder tumour and a hydatid cyst. The symptoms caused by the bladder tumour revealed the co-existing non-symptomatic retrovesical secondary CH, which is a rare complication of splenic Echinococcus granulosus infection. Close follow-up and a proper pre- and postoperative anti-parasitic medication of the patient could have prevented reoccurrence of CH.

Keywords: bladder tumour; primary splenic hydatidosis; secondary retrovesical hydatidosis.