Key points are not available for this paper at this time.
ECHINOCOCCAL or hydatid cysts, especially in the liver, may attain great size without the production of prominent symptoms. It has been estimated that about 25 per cent of human beings infested with echinococci go through life without any symptoms or complaints referable to them. 1 In most cases, however, symptoms do appear, and often these are bizarre. It is the purpose of this paper to review some of the literature on echinococcal cysts which have caused obstruction of the common bile duct, to report data on 40 cases in which the diagnosis of primary echinococcal cysts of the liver was made and proved at the Mayo Clinic and to report an illustrative case in which a hydatid cyst ruptured into the biliary tract and gave rise to symptoms indicative of stone in the common duct. About 70 per cent of primary echinococcal cysts are found in the liver and four
Thomas N. Poore (1949) studied this question.