[Surgical treatment of echinococcosis of the lung based on 575 personal cases and a study of the literature]

Abstract

Echinococcosis has continued to be a worrying problem in endemic zones. An account is given in this paper of 25 years of experience in echinococcosis treatment. Reported are 575 patients on whom operations had been performed at the Surgical Clinic of Malaga University under the supervision of Professor Vara López. Fifty-six per cent of these patients were males and the remainder females. The disease was found to occur with regularity to all age groups. Cough, pain, lung bleeding, and geographic origin were characteristic phenomena of the disease and its anamnestic background. Diagnosis was confirmed by these parameters together with eosinophilia, complement fixation reaction according to Weinberg, intracutaneous testing according to Casoni, and radiography. Surgical approaches were pericystectomy in 415 cases, cystectomy in 57 cases, segmentectomy in 64, lobectomy in 34, and pneumectomy in five cases. Postoperative complications occurred to seven per cent of the patients, and the lethality rate amounted to 1.5 per cent. The absence of clinical information in publications is discussed together with lack of analyses of clinical situations, modes of treatment, and complications.