Ae. Mohamed et al., COMBINED ALBENDAZOLE AND PRAZIQUANTEL VERSUS ALBENDAZOLE ALONE IN THETREATMENT OF HYDATID-DISEASE, Hepato-gastroenterology, 45(23), 1998, pp. 1690-1694
BACKGROUND/AIMS: This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of di
fferent regimens of medical treatment in hydatid disease at the Armed
Forces Hospital, Riyadh. METHODOLOGY: Between April 1985 and August 19
90 albendazole was used alone in the treatment of 22 patients with hyd
atid disease, mainly of the liver. Since September 1990, we have used
a combination treatment of albendazole and praziquantel in 19 patients
. RESULTS: For those patients treated only with albendazole, 8 patient
s (36.4%) showed a complete disappearance of the cyst, in 4 of which t
he treatment period ranged between 6 months to 2 years. The other 4 pa
tients had ruptured liver cyst into biliary tree and had endoscopic tr
eatment with complete recovery over a short period. For those patients
treated with albendazole and praziquantel the following results were
found. During a follow-up period of 2 months to 3 years and a treatmen
t period of only 2-6 months there was complete disappearance of the hy
datid cyst in 9 patients (47.4%) and over 50% reduction of the hydatid
cyst in 5 patients (36.84%). CONCLUSION: Combination treatment with a
lbendazole and praziquantel for hydatid disease is more effective than
albendazole alone.