Hydatid Disease of the Liver Presenting as Spontaneous Cutaneous Fistula: A case report

Abstract

Hydatid cyst (HC) disease is a parasitic infection produced by cysts containing the Echinococcus granulosus larval phase. Patients with HC disease are typically asymptomatic until incidentally diagnosed or when complications occur. A rare presentation of liver HC is spontaneous cutaneous fistualisation. We report a 63-year-old female patient admitted in a tertiary care hospital in Ibb, Yemen, in 2019 with an infected cutaneous fistula induced by a ruptured HC. The patient underwent laparotomy and partial cystectomy with excision of the fistula tract. Upon 6-month follow-up, there was no HC recurrence. This report highlights the need for physicians to consider this diagnosis when faced with an unusual cutaneous fistula near organs commonly involved in HC, especially in areas where the prevalence of this disease is high.
Keywords: Complications; Cutaneous Fistula; Echinococcosis; Liver; Surgery; Case Report; Yemen.