Pulmonary embolism in echinococcosis: two case reports and literature review.

Abstract

Human cystic echinococcosis (CE) is a worldwide parasitic infection in which the larval cysts of Echinococcus granulosus develop in some tissue or organ, very often in the liver and/or the lungs. On very rare occasions, a cyst may be found inside the pulmonary artery, the result of the rupture of an intracardiac cyst or, more rarely, dissemination from a hepatic infection (Bulman et al., 2007). Most cysts in the pulmonary artery have only been detected at autopsy (Gilsanz et al., 1977). Surgery is usually the therapeutic approach of choice. Two Tunisian patients with Echinococcus-attributable pulmonary embolism, as a rare complication after the surgical removal of a hepatic cyst (Case 1) or a cardiac cyst (Case 2) are described below. In both cases, who presented at the Fattouma Bourguiba University Hospital in Monastir, diagnosis was based on medical history and imaging features and chemotherapy led to a good outcome.