In this study, we aimed to analyse patients who underwent surgery for cardiac echinococcosis in our department.

Between June 2005 and June 2013, 25 patients (15 male, 10 female) underwent cardiac hydatid cyst operation. The mean patient age was 33.4±12.6 (15–75) years.

The most common presenting symptom was dyspnoea. Cysts were located only in the heart in 16 patients, lung in 4 patients, liver in 4 patients, and brain with lung involvement in 1 patient. Concomitant cardiac and pulmonary surgery was performed in 2 patients. The cardiac hydatid cysts were intracavitary in 11 patients and extracavitary in 14 patients. We used cardiopulmonary bypass in all but 1 patient, who presented with an extracavitary cyst. In 3 patients, surgery was performed with cardiopulmonary bypass without cross-clamping of the aorta. There were no mortalities in the early follow-up period.

Cardiac echinococcosis is a rare but fatal disease and should be surgically treated when diagnosed. There is some controversy about how echinococcosis spreads to the heart (via haematogenous spread or direct extension from adjacent structures). According to our study, we think that haematogenous spread is the main method of the distribution of cardiac echinococcosis, and the direct extension method from adjacent structures must be questioned.