Neurocysticercosis. Short course of treatment with albendazole

Abstract

Eighteen patients with nonenhancing parenchymal brain cysts were treated with albendazole; 9 patients were treated for 3 days and 9 patients for 1 month at daily doses of 15 mg/kg of body weight. Three months after starting therapy, results showed that in both groups the treatment was highly effective. Control studies carried out in the same group before the trial did not show any significant improvement. Five patients were controls and were treated only with symptomatic drugs. The total diameter of the lesions was reduced from 220.1 mm to 52.1 mm, which signifies a reduction of 76.3% in patients treated for a period of 3 days, and from 278.5 mm to 82.1 mm, which is 70.5%, in patients treated for 30 days. We conclude that albendazole administered according to the 3-day therapeutic scheme proposed above is as highly effective for the treatment of parenchymal brain cysticercosis as the 30-day scheme.