Nonsurgical Treatment of Hepatic Hydatid Cyst

Hopes for a medical treatment of the hydatid cyst are old. However, the noninvasive treatments (vaccinotherapy, immunotherapy, chemotherapy) used so far did not lead to a cure. The latest drugs introduced as treatment are albendazole and mebendazole with a parasiticidal effect and praziquantel with a parasitostatic effect. Chemotherapy indications, established by WHO in 1996, are the adjuvant treatment administered preoperatively and postoperatively in the plurivisceral hydatid disease
when surgical treatment is contraindicated. The contraindications for chemotherapy are given by the occurrence of cysts complications or by the death of the parasite (1). The results of chemotherapy as a single treatment are 10-13% cure, 40-60% partial remission, 10-30% failure (1,2). Albendazole is a benzimidazole anthelmintic derivative for roundworms, flatworms and the larval forms of E. Granulosus. It acts at the level of the parasites’ cells, respectively of the proligerous membrane of E. Granulosus by inhibiting the poly-merization of ?-tubulin from which the intracyto-plasmic tubules are formed and through which glucose is absorbed. Blocking glucose absorption causes parasite’s death through a process of vesicula-tion and fibrosis of the proligerous membrane which becomes infertile. Albendazole dosage is 10-15/mg/kgc/day, in two daily doses, over a 30-day course of treatment, which is to be repeated after a two-week pause.