Taenia echinococcus cyst in the left rectus muscle

Abstract

Hydatid cysts in the liver are not a rare occurrence whilst echinococcosis of muscle is less frequent and we have not found any reports of infestation of the Rectus muscle. A case history of a five year old boy is described, who was referred to the surgical out-patient clinic on the 25th January, 1968, for an abdominal mass, which was hard on palpation, mobile, not tender, about 1.5 inches in diameter, situated in the left upper quadrant of the abdomen one inch below the costal arch. The lump was removed, it was cystic and measured 1.5 by 1 inch. The pathologist's report said that muscle and fibrous tissue lined a cystic space; the lining was densely permeated by eosinophils and by some lymphoid cells; necrosis was present but no calcification. The acellular hyaline cuticle of Taenia echinococcus was fused to the invaded tissue as a laminated membrane.