History and Objectives: Although some serological tests are not highly sensitive in diagnosis of pulmonary hydatid cyst however Dot-ELISA is introduced as a simple, sensitive and a very efficient means of pulmonary hydatid cyst diagnosis. In the present study, we compared the validity of IHA, IFA and Dot-ELISA techniques in diagnosis of anti-echinococcal antibodies caused bu Echinococcus granulosis in cystic liver and lung hydatid disease.

Materials and Methods: 244 sera of which 30 samples from hydatid patients, 104 sera from patients suffering a disease other than hydatidosis and 110 sera from healthy individuals were collected mainly from Tehran’s hospitals. The hydatid patients were confirmed by surgery and consisted of 14, 10, 6 patients with liver, lung and liver-lung hydatid cysts respectively. The sera were tested by IHA, IFA and Dot-ELISA techniques. Sensitivity, specificity, predictive values, false positivity and false negativity of each test were evaluated in diagnosis of liver and lung hydatid cyst.

Results: The results indicated that the sensitivities of IHA test for liver, lung and liver-lung cysts were 78.7%, 60% and 100% respectively, while the sensitivities of IFA in detecting liver lung and liver-lung cysts were 93%, 80% and 100% respectively. In this regard, the Dot-ELISA showed the best results whereas its sensitivities for liver, lung and liver-lung cysts were 100% each.

Conclusion: These results indicate that detection of anti-echinococcal antibodies in human sera is superior by Dot-ELISA compared to IHA and IFA tests. Hence, the application of this test in medical laboratories for hydatid cyst diagnosis can be recommended.