Rare cyst removed from an Iraqi child's heart

City doctors have removed a plum-sized cyst along with 160 daughter cysts from the heart of an Iraqi child.

The 12-year-old child was diagnosed to have these cysts when he came with complaints of severe cough and difficulty to breathe. When doctors did a CT Scan, it was revealed that the child had several cysts.

Doctors from the City who operated upon him said that the child had 'Hydatid Cysts which typically concerning the lung or liver. However, in this child's case, it was found to be in the heart.

Hydatid cysts or hydatid disease is a parasitic infection occurring mainly in the sheep rearing areas of the world. Animals like sheep are intermediate hosts and dogs are definite hosts.

Dr Vivek Jawali, Chief Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgeon, Chairman, Department of Cardiovascular Sciences, Fortis Hospitals, Bengaluru, said, “Hydatid cysts are parasitic infestation which can reach a human being through the faeces of the hosts like dogs. In this case, the boy was known to have contact with sheep and dogs through which it was transmitted. These infections generally progress from the gut to the lungs, however, in this case, it was unusual. Timely diagnosis and surgery should be conducted carefully as there are a lot of risk factors involved.”

Dr Nischal Rajendra Pandya, Paediatric Cardiac Surgeon, Fortis Hospital Bannerghatta Road, said, It was a complicated surgery as there were high chances of the cysts to burst and disseminate in the entire body. We made sure that the cavities were packed with hypertonic saline in order to avoid contamination, the cysts were then visualised and carefully removed.” It took the doctors four hours to perform the procedure.

The disease is widely endemic in the Middle Eastern countries, but it rarely occurs during childhood according to doctors. This case usually involves the liver which accounts to 50–70 per cent or the lungs accounting to 20–30 per cent. Isolated intracardiac hydatids are very rare accounting to less than 2% of cases, doctors said.