Aim: To evaluate all the references about primary gallbladder hidatidosis looking for best treatment evidence.
Methods: Search: 1966-2015 in MEDLINE, Cochrane Library, SciELO, and Tripdatabase.
Key words: "gallabladder hydatid disease" and "gallbladder hydatid cyst". We found 124 papers in our searches but only 14 papers including 16 cases were about hydatid cyst of the gallbladder (GBHC).
Results: Eight cases of GBHC were women and seven men. One not mentioned. Median age was 48.3 years. The most frequent clinical symptom was abdominal pain (94%) usually in the right upper quadrant. Ultrasound was performed in ten patients (62.5%) but in most cases a combination of several techniques was performed. The location of the cysts was intravesicular in five patients. Five patients presented GBHC and liver hydatid cysts. Two patients presented cholelithiasis and one choledocholithiasis. The most frequent surgical technique was cholecystectomy by laparotomy (81.25%). Simultaneous surgery of liver cysts was carried out in five cases. Eleven patients did not present postoperative complications, but one died. The mean hospital stay was seven days. No recurrence of GBHC was recorded.
Conclusion: In GBHC, the most frequent symptom is right hypocondrium pain (evidence level V). Best diagnostic methods are ultrasound and computed tomography (level V, grade D). Suggested treatment is open cholecystectomy and postoperative albendazole (level V, grade D) obtaining good clinical results and none relapses.
Keywords: Cholecystectomy; Gallbladder; Hydatid cyst; Hydatidosis; Review.