Lobectomy for pulmonary hydatid cyst

Aim: Although parenchymal sparing surgery is the most appropriate for the treatment of hydatid cysts, rarely lobectomy is needed. We aimed to retrospectively evaluate the cases in which we had to perform lobectomy due to hydatid cyst. Materials and methods: A total of 36 (1.88%) patients that underwent lobectomy (n = 35) and pneumonectomy (n = 1) from among 1909 patients operated on for hydatid cyst in our hospital between 1992 and 2012 were retrospectively evaluated. Results: Among the patients, 35 underwent lobectomy and 1 right pneumonectomy. The mean age of the patients was 11.1 ± 3.4 years (6–16 years) among children and 43.2 ± 13.8 years (20–78 years) among adults. The most common indications for lobectomy were destroyed parenchyma in 22 (61.1%), hemoptysis in 17 (47.2%), and parenchymal loss due to giant cyst in 12 (33.3%) cases. Postoperative morbidity was observed in 9 (25%) patients, and no mortality was observed. Conclusion: The effective treatment for hydatid cyst is parenchymal sparing surgery. However, lobectomy is an inevitable result with indications such as destroyed parenchyma, hemoptysis, parenchymal loss due to giant cyst, lobe bronchus ruptured into the cystic cavity, broncho-pleural fistula, suspected malignancy, broncho-bilier fistula, and pulmonary abscess.