Surgical treatment of hydatid cysts of the heart: a report of 3 cases and a review of the literature.

Because the clinical signs and symptoms of cardiac hydatid cyst are nonspecific and highly variable, this disease may be difficult to diagnose. In this report, the cases of 3 patients with cardiac hydatid cysts located in the subepicardium are presented. In 2 of the patients the diagnosis was erroneous, and they were operated on for pulmonary hydatid cyst and acute abdomen in provincial hospitals before transfer to our institution. One patient who had an intrapericardially ruptured cardiac hydatid cyst presented with the clinical features of an acute abdomen. A patient with 4 subepicardial cysts had undergone surgery for a cardiac hydatid cyst 10 years before presenting at our hospital. The perforated cyst in this patient was excised while the heart was beating; the 2 other patients were operated on with extracorporeal circulation. The epidemiologic and pathologic features, clinical presentation, complications, diagnostic methods and treatment of cardiac hydatid cyst are discussed in detail in the light of pertinent literature.