Hydatid cysts of the lung in childhood: is capitonnage advantageous?

In the treatment of thoracal hydatid cysts, there is not an agreement whether the cyst cavity to be capitonnaged or not. In this retrospective study, it was aimed to compare the cases of capitonnaged and not capitonnaged thoracal hydatid cysts with regard to hospital stay and post-operative chest tube removal day. Documents of 15 patients operated for pulmonary hydatid cysts in our clinic were reviewed. In 7 cases pericystectomy and removal of germinative membrane was performed whereas in 8 patients capitonnage was added to the procedure. In all cases open airways were suture controlled and pleural cavity was drained with chest tube connected to waterseal system. Average hospital stay of capitonnaged cases was 8 days and of uncapitonnaged ones was 12 days. Thoracal drainage tubes were removed in an average of 4 post-operative days in capitonnaged cases and of 7 days in the others. Statistical analysis were made by Mann-Whitney U test. Difference between the hospital stays of the 2 groups were not significant, whereas it was significant statistically between chest tube removal days (p<0.05). Capitonnage shortens postoperative chest tube drainage period in pulmonary hydatid cysts, resulting in lower morbidity compared with the uncapitonnaged cases.