Department of Radiology, Soonchunhyang University Cheonan Hospital, Korea. ilykim@schca.ac.kr
Published online: March 1, 2009.
ABSTRACT
Hydatid disease is a parasitic infection caused by the larvae of the cestode worms Echinococcus. In humans, the most commonly affected organ is the liver, the next second common organ is the lung. The third common affected organ is the spleen. In the case of splenic hydatid cyst, most cysts remain clinically silent and are diagnosed incidentally or when complications occur. We experienced a case of splenic hydatid cyst in a 28-year-old man. The patient complained of abdominal pain for 1 month. Abdominal ultrasound revealed a cystic lesion with daughter cysts in the spleen. The CT imaging also showed a cystic lesion with daughter cysts. We diagnosed it as a splenic hydatid cyst which was confirmed by pathology after surgery.