Huge hemispheric intraparenchymal cyst caused by Taenia multiceps in a child. Case report

J Neurosurg. 2007 Dec;107(6 Suppl):511-4. doi: 10.3171/PED-07/12/511.

Abstract

The authors report an unusual case of a huge intraparenchymal cyst in a 4-year-old girl caused by Taenia multiceps infection. After surgical removal of the cyst, the child recovered completely. Brain infestation by coenurus is a rare disease, mainly reported in Africa, with a few case reports from patients in developed countries. Humans, especially young children, become intermediate hosts by ingesting eggs passed in the excrement of a definitive host, usually carnivores. In such cases, high mortality and morbidity rates have been reported. These rates decreased after the introduction of the modem neuroradiological techniques of computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Albendazole / therapeutic use
  • Animals
  • Antiplatyhelmintic Agents / therapeutic use
  • Central Nervous System Cysts / diagnostic imaging
  • Central Nervous System Cysts / pathology
  • Central Nervous System Cysts / surgery*
  • Child, Preschool
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Intracranial Pressure
  • Praziquantel / therapeutic use
  • Taenia*
  • Taeniasis / diagnostic imaging
  • Taeniasis / pathology
  • Taeniasis / surgery*
  • Tomography, X-Ray Computed

Substances

  • Antiplatyhelmintic Agents
  • Praziquantel
  • Albendazole