UROLOGY – LETTER TO THE EDITOR Genitourinary hydatid disease Mohsen Sokouti • Samad E. J. Golzari • Parastou Tizro • Hadi Mohammad Khanli • Kamyar Ghabili Received: 26 March 2013 / Accepted: 5 April 2013 / Published online: 16 April 2013 Ó Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013 Editor, Genitourinary involvement of the hydatid disease is mainly caused by Echinococcus granulosus; however, renal, ureteral, and testicular echinococcosis caused by echinococcus multilocularis also have been reported [1, 2]. Through their life cycle, the eggs of the parasite hatch in the gut into embryos or larvae which are also called oncospheres. These larvae penetrate through the intestinal wall and those man- aging to escape the liver are next filtered by the lungs (9–30 %). Ultimately, these larvae might develop into aqueous ‘‘blisters’’ called hydatid cysts in the spleen, (0.9–8 %), kidney (2–3 %), and brain (1 %) [3–5]. We read with great interest the study of the Kumar et al. [6] titled ‘‘Isolated primary renal echinococcosis: a rare entity.’’ However, to the best of our knowledge, the echinococcal larvae may reach the kidneys via the lymphatic or hematogenous systems or by the direct invasion from the adjacent intra-abdominal affected organs. Hence, the kidney involvement is not limited to the retroperitoneal lymphatics and the portal system only [1, 2]. Moreover, the echinococcal cysts per se are not able to pass through lymphatics, the portal system or the blood stream. Hence, involvement of the other organs including brain, bone, kidney, etc., is not due to the cysts but rather to the larvae, oncospheres, or the scoleces. Conflict of interest None. References 1. Strohmaier WL, Bichler KH, Wilbert DM, Seitz HM (1990) Alveolar echinococcosis with involvement of the ureter and testis. J Urol 144:733–734 2. Silber SJ, Moyad RA (1972) Renal echinococcus. J Urol 108:669–672 3. Safioleas M, Misiakos EP, Kakisis J, Manti C, Papachristo- doulou A, Lambrou P, Tsinari KK, Skalkeas G (1997) Sur- gical treatment for splenic hydatidosis. World J Surg 21: 374–378 M. Sokouti Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran S. E. J. Golzari (&) Cardiovascular Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran e-mail: dr.golzari@hotmail.com S. E. J. Golzari Students’ Research Committee, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran P. Tizro Faculty of Medicine, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran H. M. Khanli Medical Philosophy and History Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran K. Ghabili Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran 123 Int Urol Nephrol (2013) 45:757–758 DOI 10.1007/s11255-013-0440-0