Methods: The records of 308 patients (287 males, 21 females; mean age 24.61 years; range 6 to 72 years) who were diagnosed to have hydatid cyst and treated surgically in our clinic between January 1990 and December 2008 were evaluated retrospectively. The most common presenting symptoms were cough, expectoration and chest pain. Thoracotomy in 296 patients, bilateral staged thoracotomies in eight patients with bilateral hydatid cysts, median sternotomy in one patient with bilateral hydatid cysts, and video-assisted thoracic surgery in three patients were used as surgical approach.

Results: Two hundred and eight of the 385 intrapulmonary hydatid cysts were in the right lung and 177 in the left lung. The most common cyst localizations were lower lobes, of each lung. Twenty-eight out of 66 ruptured cysts had been infected. In 15 patients intrathoracic extrapulmonary hydatid cysts were detected. There were cystic lesions in the liver in 48 patients and in left kidney in one patient. Small wedge resection was performed in 27 patients, segmentectomy in five patients and lobectomy in three patients. Other patients were treated with conservative surgical procedures as cystotomy or enucleation. There was no peri- or postoperative mortality. Albendazole treatment was given to patients who had multiple intrathoracic cysts or additional other organ cysts.

Conclusion: Principal treatment method of thoracic hydatidosis is surgical removal of the cysts and conservative surgical approaches are safe and effective in most patients.