Korean J Parasitol.  2017 Aug;55(4):429-431. 10.3347/kjp.2017.55.4.429.

Unusual Location of Hydatid Cysts: Report of Two Cases in the Heart and Hip Joint of Romanian Patients

• Gurzu S
• Beleaua MA
• Egyed-Zsigmond E
• Jung I

• KMID: 2389980
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3347/kjp.2017.55.4.429

Abstract

Hydatid cyst is usually located in the liver and lungs, rare cases showing localization in other organs or tissues. In the unusual location, echinococcosis is an excluding diagnosis that is established only after microscopic evaluation. Our first case occurred in a 67-year-old female previously diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis and hospitalized with persistent pain in the hip joint. The clinical diagnosis was tuberculosis of the joint, but the presence of the specific acellular membrane indicated a hydatid cyst of the synovial membrane, without bone involvement. Fewer than 25 cases of joint hydatidosis have been reported in literature to date. In the second case, the intramural hydatid cyst was incidentally discovered at autopsy, in the left heart ventricle of a 52-year-old male hospitalized for a fatal brain hemorrhage, as a result of rupture of an anterior communicating artery aneurysm. The conclusion of our paper is that echinococcosis should be taken into account for the differential diagnosis of cystic lesions, independently from their location.

Keyword

Echinococcus granulosus; echinococcosis; heart; myocardium; joint; hip; coxarthrosis; ventricle; autopsy

MeSH Terms

Aged
Autopsy
Diagnosis
Diagnosis, Differential
Echinococcosis*
Echinococcus granulosus
Female
Heart Ventricles
Heart*
Hip Joint*
Hip*
Humans
Intracranial Aneurysm
Intracranial Hemorrhages
Joints
Liver
Lung
Male
Membranes
Middle Aged
Myocardium
Osteoarthritis, Hip
Rupture
Synovial Membrane
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, Pulmonary