Sparganosis of the brain

Abstract

Cerebral sparganosis is a rare disease; to date only eight cases have been described. Two new cases of cerebral sparganosis occurring in Chinese patients living in a metropolitan area are reported. Their clinical presentation and investigative results are presented and the operative and histological findings detailed. A brief review of the condition is given and the possible source of infection discussed.

Other cestodes

“…Until the 1980s, experts considered CNS sparganosis a rare event (Mineura and Mori, 1980; Chan et al, 1987) but with the increasing availability of brain imaging, CNS sparganosis is now reported more frequently and more than 160 cases have been reported in scientific literature. Human cases of CNS sparganosis have been reported in China, South Korea, Japan, Thailand, India, the Philippines, and the USA, among many other countries (Anders et al, 1984; Chan et al, 1987; Yamashita et al, 1990; Rengarajan et al, 2008; Shirakawa et al, 2010; Anantaphruti et al, 2011; Cui et al, 2011b).…”

“…Human cases of CNS sparganosis have been reported in China, South Korea, Japan, Thailand, India, the Philippines, and the USA, among many other countries (Anders et al, 1984; Chan et al, 1987; Yamashita et al, 1990; Rengarajan et al, 2008; Shirakawa et al, 2010; Anantaphruti et al, 2011; Cui et al, 2011b). While it is difficult to assess the role of reporting bias, it is likely that CNS sparganosis is a more frequent condition than previously described.…”

“…Stereotactic imaging increases the likelihood of localizing the sparganum during biopsy (Chan et al, 1987). …”

“…Some patients develop symptoms decades after the initial ingestion of raw frog or snake or application of poultices containing raw frog (Song et al, 2007). On the other hand, some infections in residents from nonendemic regions have become symptomatic within months of traveling through endemic areas (Chan et al, 1987). Symptoms can persist for years, and such prolonged presentations have been observed both in subjects with live and dead parasites detected at biopsy.…”

“…Complete or partial excision of the parasite is considered the treatment of choice (Mineura and Mori, 1980; Chan et al, 1987) and is often curative. Surgical excision can also prevent further white matter degeneration, cognitive loss, permanent neurological deficits, and seizure remission.…”