Giant hydatid lung cysts: About two paediatric cases

Cystic echinococcosis, which commonly starts during childhood or adolescence, is a serious problem of public health in Tunisia. The resulting large cysts in the lung are a special clinical entity called giant hydatid cysts. Herein we present two paediatric cases of this rare entity. In the first case a fourteen-year-old boy presented with chest pain, thoracic deformation, weight loss and dyspnea revealing two giant hydatid cysts of the upper and the lower lobes of the right lung. In the second case, a seven-year-old girl presented with chest pain, dyspnea, fever and episodes of suffocation revealing a giant hydatid cyst of the right upper lobe of the lung.

The three giant cysts were non-complicated, they were treated by cystotomy and capitonnage without post-operative complications and without recurrence of the disease on follow-up.