Imaging and Management of Abdominal Echinococcosis in Children

The clinical entity of cystic echinococcosis (CE) caused by the most prevalent genus of the flatworm species, Echinococcus granulosus (EG), has a global distribution that impacts children causing significant morbidity and mortality. Childhood echinococcosis manifests distinct clinical patterns of disease that require unique management interventions despite its overlap in imaging features with that of adults. Abdominal hydatidosis in children, as in adults, demonstrates a predilection for the liver even though the lungs are the most commonly affected organ in children. Treatment is almost always surgical in children and the procedure of choice is determined by imaging findings. Clinical evaluation and serological tests are fraught with difficulties hence a reliance on radiological investigation for accurate diagnosis, cyst characterization, detection of multiplicity of disease and the early diagnosis of complications. Appropriate radiation safe imaging and up to date management regimes are addressed in this review.