Hepatic Echinococcosis with Thoracic Involvement. Clinical Characteristics of a Prospective Series of Cases

Introduction. Thoracic involvement (TIHE) is one of the evolutionary complications of hepatic echinococcosis (HE). Aim. The aim of this study was to describe the clinical characteristics and postoperative morbidity (POM) of a series of patients with TIHE treated surgically. Material and methods. Series of cases of patients treated for TIHE between 2000 and 2014 in the Hospital Regional and Clinica Mayor in Temuco, Chile, with a minimum 12-month follow-up. The outcome variable was "development of POM". Descriptive statistics were used. Results. The series was composed of 37 patients with a mean age of 53.2 +/- 47.4 years (51.4% female). Mean cyst diameter was 19.4 +/- 15.5 cm, and 75.7% of the lesions were located in the right hepatic lobe. The most frequent surgical technique used for the cyst was subtotal pericystectomy (56.8%); the residual cavity was treated by capitonnage (27.0%) or omentoplasty (21.6%), and a phrenoplasty with or without prosthetic material was performed for the TIHE. Mean hospital stay was 6.0 +/- 5.7 days and follow-up was 61.4 +/- 79.9 months; a mortality rate of 2.7% (one patient) and a POM of 24.3% (9 patients) were verified. Conclusion. TIHE is an uncommon evolutionary complication of HE associated with significant POM rate.