Introduction: Cystic echinococcosis is an infection caused by the tapeworm Echinococcus granulosus, this form of echinococcosis is chronic, complicated, however, there is restricted knowledge about it.
Methods: Medical records of a total of 127 patients were used, of which 44 patients were selected for analysis. These were the patients with a fully verified diagnosis, a parasitic lesion located in the liver and a detailed documented ultrasound description of the condition of the liver at diagnosis. The following information was collected from the clinical records: demographic data (age, sex), diagnostic method (ultrasound (US) examination and parasitological serology), clinical data (symptoms), cyst details (number, localization, and size) and treatment. Parasitic cysts of the selected patients were analysed and the disease was classified according to World Health Organisation recommendations.
Results: Out of 44 selected patients, 32 were female and 12 were male. Patients' age varied from 27 to 83 (mean--55.34 15.33) years. Time until diagnosis ranged from the absence of complaints to a period of 180 months; the median time was 6 ± 6 months. The most common complaints were pain or discomfort in the abdomen (n=20). The analysis of the stage of the cyst at the moment of the diagnosis showed that most often the 3rd (n = 9) and the 4th stage (n = 20) cysts were found. The parasitic lesion was localised in the right hepatic lobe (n = 29), it was solitary (n = 24) and of average size 6.49 ± 3.73 cm. Results indicated that the cysts which were initially in the 5-10 cm size group were progressing more rapidly. Chemotherapy lasting for 3 years resulted in finding statistically important changes of the cysts in 20% of the patients--degenerative processes attesting the death of the parasite.
Conclusions: It is necessary to develop a system that would allow identifying of patients at as early stages of the disease as possible, in order to ensure more efficient treatment and to avoid major impact on patients' quality of life by the disease.