PAIR: Puncture, Aspiration, Injection, Re-aspiration

Overview

PAIR (Puncture, Aspiration, Injection, Re-aspiration), was proposed in 1986 by the Tunisian team that first used it in a prospective study. The technique was developed in the middle of 1980s for the treatment of intra-abdominal localizations of Cystic Echinococcosis (CE) infection by the larval cestode, Echinococcus granulosus, commonly called “hydatid disease”.

PAIR is a relatively recent and minimally invasive therapeutic option, that complements or replaces surgery which was long considered as the only treatment for CE. PAIR also complements chemotherapy with benzimidazoles, (albendazole and mebendazole) which have been developed since the beginning of the 1980s for the treatment of CE.