Letter to the Editor
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2022. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Jun 28, 2022; 28(24): 2775-2777
Published online Jun 28, 2022. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v28.i24.2775
Is long-term follow-up without surgical treatment a valid option for hepatic alveolar echinococcosis?
Yusufukadier Maimaitinijiati, Yuan Meng, Xiong Chen
Yusufukadier Maimaitinijiati, Yuan Meng, Xiong Chen, Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, People’s Hospital of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, Urumqi 830001, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China
Yusufukadier Maimaitinijiati, School of Clinical Medicine, Medical College of Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
Author contributions: Maimaitinijiati Y performed the research and wrote the letter; Meng Y and Chen X revised the letter.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Xiong Chen, MD, Chief Doctor, Professor, Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, People’s Hospital of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, No. 91 Tianchi Road, Tianshan District, Urumqi 830011, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, China. 1512237458@qq.com
Received: February 24, 2022
Peer-review started: February 24, 2022
First decision: April 5, 2022
Revised: April 13, 2022
Accepted: June 3, 2022
Article in press: June 3, 2022
Published online: June 28, 2022
Core Tip

Core Tip: Although many experts suggest that radical surgery combined with albendazole treatment is the optimal option for alveolar echinococcosis patients, no clear consensus has been reached on whether long-term treatment using albendazole alone without any surgical intervention can cure or control the disease. Therefore, some professional issues need to be clarified by discussion with peers, in order to benefit as many patients as possible.