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. 2014 Oct;4(4):205-12.
doi: 10.1177/1941874414533351.

Neurocysticercosis

Oscar H Del Brutto  1
Affiliations

Neurocysticercosis

Oscar H Del Brutto. Neurohospitalist. 2014 Oct.

Abstract

Neurocysticercosis, the most common helminthic infection of the nervous system, is a major cause of acquired epilepsy worldwide. The disease occurs when humans become intermediate hosts of the tapeworm Taenia solium after ingesting its eggs by contagion from an asymptomatic Taenia carrier. Within the nervous system, parasites may locate in brain parenchyma, subarachnoid space, ventricular system, or spinal cord, causing several pathological changes that are responsible for the clinical pleomorphism of the disease. Seizures are the most common clinical manifestation, but a sizable proportion of patients develop focal deficits, intracranial hypertension, or cognitive decline. Preoperative diagnosis of neurocysticercosis is possible after proper integration of data from neuroimaging studies and immunological tests. Cysticidal drugs (albendazole and praziquantel) have changed the prognosis of most patients with neurocysticercosis. The use of these drugs has shown to reduce the parasite load within the central nervous system and to improve the clinical prognosis of the disease in many cases. Future studies should focus on disease eradication through the implementation of control programs against all the interrelated steps in the life cycle of T solium, including human carriers of the adult tapeworm, infected pigs, and eggs in the environment.

Keywords: Taenia solium; cysticercosis; neurocysticercosis.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests: The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Contrast-enhanced, T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showing rounded cystic lesions with an eccentric bright dot representing the scolex. This is the single pathognomonic imaging finding of neurocysticercosis.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) showing a degenerating cysticercus in left temporal lobe. The lesion is almost indistinguishable from that seen in patients with brain tumors of focal granulomatous lesions of other etiology.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Plain computed tomography (CT) showing parenchymal brain calcifications representing death cysticerci.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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