MODERN METHODS OF RADIATION DIAGNOSTICS ECHINOCOCCOSIS OF THE LIVER IN CHILDREN

Abstract

The relevance of the problem:  Echinococcal disease in children has been considered an urgent problem of medical parasitology for a long time. Detection of this disease in the early stages of development is a difficult task, due to the lack of clear clinical symptoms and complaints of the patient. In most cases, patients go to medical institutions after cysts are detected during preventive examinations with X-ray and ultrasound examinations.

The aim of the study: was to evaluate the informative value of various methods for diagnosing echinococcosis in children.

Research materials and methods: The results of treatment of 193 children aged 3 to 18 years with liver echinococcosis treated in the period from 2018 to 2023 at the TashPMI clinic were analyzed.

The results of the study:  The performed ultrasound diagnostic methods of the patients admitted to our clinic revealed single echinococcal liver cysts in 114 (59.1%) cases, multiple cystic liver lesion was detected in 79 (40.9%) patients. Of the total number of patients, 35 (18.1%) cases revealed complicated echinococcal cysts of the liver, which occurred in both single and multiple liver lesions. The greatest localization of echinococcal cysts in the liver occurred in the right lobe and amounted to 150 (77.7%) cases, while cysts were detected in the left lobe of the liver in 17 (8.8%) cases, damage to both lobes of the liver was detected in 26 (13.5%) patients. The ultrasound picture of liver echinococcosis largely depended on the period of vital activity of the parasite (uncomplicated and complicated cyst). Ultrasound diagnostics allowed us to determine the tactics, choice of method and method of surgical treatment of liver echinococcosis, which depended on the location, size, number of cysts, stage of the disease and type of complication. The informative value of this study exceeded 90%.

Chest X-ray was the primary and mandatory screening method in all patients with echinococcosis of the thoracic and abdominal cavities to identify parasitic lesions of various localization, its informative value in our studies reached up to 91% of observations.

MSCT was most often performed for multiple and combined lesions, with small cyst sizes to establish an accurate topical diagnosis. MSCT and ultrasound made it possible to significantly improve the diagnosis of liver echinococcosis in children and correctly diagnose the disease in 98-99% of cases.

Conclusion. Thus, a comparative analysis of diagnostic research methods has shown that the resolution capabilities of each method differ significantly from each other, while ultrasound and MSCT research methods are available and primary complementary methods with high informative value in echinococcosis.