

@article {3060,
	title = {Evaluation of treatment and long-term follow-up in patients with hepatic alveolar echinococcosis},
	journal = {The British Journal of Surgery},
	volume = {92},
	number = {9},
	year = {2005},
	month = {sep},
	pages = {1110{\textendash}1116},
	abstract = {BACKGROUND: Alveolar echinococcosis is a rare disorder, which makes a comparison of different treatment modalities within a clinical trial difficult to perform. Data prospectively recorded over a period of 25 years were used to evaluate three therapeutic strategies: benzimidazole therapy alone, complete {\textquoteright}curative{\textquoteright} resection followed by 2 years of adjuvant benzimidazole treatment, and partial debulking resection followed by continuous administration of a benzimidazole. METHODS: Details of 113 patients with hepatic alveolar echinococcosis treated between 1976 and 2003 were analysed. Kaplan-Meier survival curves were constructed and, using a Cox regression model, patient age, year of initial treatment and PNM stage were entered as co-variates in the analysis. RESULTS: Kaplan-Meier overall survival curves stratified for treatment strategy indicated an improved long-term survival in patients undergoing the debulking procedure (P = 0.061) or curative resection (P = 0.002) compared with benzimidazole therapy alone. However, when PNM stage, patient age and year of initial treatment were introduced into the analysis, there was a trend for survival advantage only with curative resection (P = 0.07 versus benzimidazole alone). Debulking resulted in a higher rate of progression of hepatic echinococcosis than curative surgery (P = 0.008). The incidence of parasite-related complications was similar for debulking resection and benzimidazole therapy alone (P = 0.706). CONCLUSION: Debulking hepatic resections do not appear to offer any advantage in the treatment of patients with alveolar echinococcosis.},
	keywords = {Adjuvant, Adult, albendazole, Anthelmintics, Chemotherapy, Echinococcosis, Female, Follow-Up Studies, Hepatic, Humans, Male, Mebendazole, Middle Aged, Survival Analysis, Treatment Outcome},
	issn = {0007-1323},
	doi = {10.1002/bjs.4998},
	author = {Kadry, Z. and Renner, E. C. and Bachmann, L. M. and Attigah, N. and Renner, E. L. and Ammann, R. W. and Clavien, P.-A.}
}
