Skip to main content
Key Specialties
Cardiology Diabetology Endocrinology Gastroenterology Geriatrics and Gerontology Gynecology and Obstetrics Hematology Infectious Disease Internal Medicine Nephrology Neurology Oncology Pediatrics Respiratory Medicine Rheumatology Surgery
Congress Coverage
2024 ACC Congress 2023 ESMO Congress 2023 EASD Congress 2023 ERS Congress 2023 ESC Congress
Clinical Collections
Advances in Alzheimer’s

At a glance: The STEP trials

A round-up of the STEP phase 3 clinical trials evaluating semaglutide for weight loss in people with overweight or obesity.
ADVANCED SEARCH
Log in
Top
Child's Nervous System
Published in: Child's Nervous System 10/2018

01-10-2018 | Special Annual Issue

Pediatric neurocysticercosis

Authors: Ricardo Santos de Oliveira, Dinark Conceição Viana, Benedicto Oscar Colli, Vedantam Rajshekhar, José Francisco Manganelli Salomão

Published in: Child's Nervous System | Issue 10/2018

Login to get access

Abstract

Background

Neurocysticercosis (NCC) is an infestation of the nervous system caused by encysted larvae of Taenia solium. NCC is an important acquired cause of epilepsy and other neurological manifestations especially in endemic areas. NCC in children has pleomorphic manifestations depending on the location, number, viability of the cysts, and host response. Even with advancing knowledge of the disease manifestations, many aspects related to diagnosis and treatment, particularly in children, still remain controversial and pose challenges to clinical practice. There is no gold standard test to diagnose NCC and the management recommendations are still emerging. This review provides an overview of diagnosis of NCC in children and its management with special focus on current challenges and future prospects.

Discussion

In developing countries, NCC is important not only because of its frequency but also because of high morbidity and mortality rates associated, especially in cases in which it progresses to increased intracranial pressure. Because of its pleomorphic presentation, NCC should be considered in the differential diagnosis of a number of neurological conditions. Treatment with cysticidal therapy leads to reduction in seizure frequency and a faster resolution of lesions.

Conclusions

We have summarized the current approaches to diagnosis and treatment of NCC, recent advances in understanding the biology of NCC, and how one can take advantage of these new insights to formulate the next generation of clinical trials.
Literature
1.
2.
Blanton R (2007) Cysticercosis. In: Kliegman RM, Jenson HB, Behrman RE, Stanton BF (eds) Nelson textbook of Paediatrics. Saunders Elsevier pp, Philadelphia, pp 1514–1516
3.
Carpio A, Fleury A, Romo ML, Abraham R, Fandino J, Duran JC (2016) New diagnostic criteria for neurocysticercosis: reliability and validity. Ann Neurol 80:434–442CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
4.
Colli BO, Carlotti CG Jr, Assirati JA Jr, Machado HR, Valença M, Amato MC (2002) Surgical treatment of cerebral cysticercosis: long-term results and prognostic factors. Neurosurg Focus 15(12):e3
5.
Colli BO, Valença MM, Carlotti CG Jr, Machado HR, Assirati JA Jr (2002) Spinal cord cysticercosis: neurosurgical aspects. Neurosurg Focus 15(12):e9
6.
de Souza A, Nalini A, Kovoor JM, Yeshraj G, Siddalingaiah HS, Thennarasu K (2011) Perilesional gliosis around solitary cerebral parenchymal cysticerci and long-term seizure outcome:a prospective study using serial magnetization transfer imaging. Epilepsia 52:1918–1927CrossRefPubMed
7.
Del Brutto OH (1994) Prognostic factors for seizure recurrence after withdrawal of antiepileptic drugs in patients with neurocysticercosis. Neurology 44:1706–1709CrossRefPubMed
8.
Del Brutto OH, Garcia HH (2012) Neurocysticercosis in non endemic countries: time for a reappraisal. Neuroepidemiology 39:145–146CrossRefPubMed
9.
Del Brutto OH, Nash TE, White AC Jr, Rajshekhar V, Wilkins PP, Singh G et al (2017) Revised diagnostic criteria for neurocysticercosis. J Neurol Sci 372:202–210CrossRefPubMed
10.
Devi R, Jain A, Hurkat P, Jain SK (2015) Dual drug delivery using lactic acid conjugated SLN for effective management of neurocysticercosis. Pharm Res 32:3137–3148CrossRefPubMed
11.
Escobar A (1983) The pathology of neurocysticercosis. In: Palacios E, Rodriguez-Carbajal J, Taveras JM (eds) Cysticercosis of the central nervous system. Charles C Thomas, Springfield, pp 27–54
12.
García HH, Evans CA, Nash TE, Takayanagui OM, White AC Jr, Botero D, Rajshekhar V, Tsang VC, Schantz PM, Allan JC, Flisser A, Correa D, Sarti E, Friedland JS, Martinez SM, Gonzalez AE, Gilman RH, Del Brutto OH (2002) Current consensus guidelines for the treatment of neurocysticercosis. Clin Microbiol Rev 15:747–756CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
13.
14.
Kimura-Hayama ET, Higuera JA, Corona-Cedillo R, Chávez-Macías L, Perochena A, Quiroz-Rojas LY, Rodríguez-Carbajal J, Criales JL (2010) Neurocysticercosis: radiologic-pathologic correlation. Radiographics 30:1705–1719CrossRefPubMed
15.
Lobato RD, Lamas E, Portillo JM, Roger R, Esparza J, Rivas JJ, Muñoz MJ (1981) Hydrocephalus in cerebral cysticercosis. Pathogenic and therapeutic considerations. J Neurosurg 55:786–793CrossRefPubMed
16.
Michelet L, Fleury A, Sciutto E, Kendjo E, Fragoso G, Paris L, Bouteille B (2011) Human neurocysticercosis: comparison of different diagnostic tests using cerebrospinal fluid. J Clin Microbiol 49:195–200CrossRefPubMed
17.
Ndimubanzi PC, Carabin H, Budke CM, Nguyen H, Qian YJ, Rainwater E, Dickey M, Reynolds S, Stoner JA (2010) A systematic review of the frequency of neurocyticercosis with a focus on people with epilepsy. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 4:e870CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
18.
Odashima NS, Takayanagui OM, Figueiredo JF (2002) Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the detection of IgG, IgM, IgE and IgA against cysticercus cellulosae in cerebrospinal fluid of patients with neurocysticercosis. Arq Neuropsiquiatr 60:400–405CrossRefPubMed
19.
Panic G, Duthaler U, Speich B, Keiser J (2014) Repurposing drugs for the treatment and control of helminth infections. Int J Parasitol Drugs Drug Resist 4:185–200CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
20.
Prabhakaran V, Rajshekhar V, Murrell D, Oommen A (2007) Conformation-sensitive immunoassays improve the serodiagnosis of solitary cysticercus granuloma in Indian patients. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg 101:570–577CrossRefPubMed
21.
Prabhakaran V, Drevets DA, Ramajayam G, Manoj JJ, Anderson MP, Oommen A et al (2017) Comparison of monocyte gene expression among patients with neurocysticercosis-associated epilepsy, idiopathic epilepsy and idiopathic headaches in India. PLoS NTD 11(6):e0005664
22.
Raina SK, Razdan S, Pandita KK, Sharma R, Gupta VP (2012) Active epilepsy as indicator of neurocysticercosis in rural Northwest India. Epilepsy Res Treat 2012:802747PubMedPubMedCentral
23.
Rajshekhar V (2001) Rate of spontaneous resolution of a solitary cysticercus granuloma in patients with seizures. Neurology 57:2315–2317CrossRefPubMed
24.
25.
Rajshekhar V, Chandy MJ (1997) Validation of diagnostic criteria for solitary cerebral cysticercus granuloma in patients presenting with seizures. Acta Neurol Scand 96:76–81CrossRefPubMed
26.
Rajshekhar V, Chandy MJ (2000) Incidence of solitary cysticercus granuloma. In: Rajshekhar V, Chandy MJ (eds) Solitary cysticercus granuloma: the disappearing lesion. Orient Longman Ltd, Chennai, pp 12–28
27.
Rajshekhar V, Jeyaseelan L (2004) Seizure outcome in patients with a solitary cerebral cysticercus granuloma. Neurology 62:2236–2240CrossRefPubMed
28.
Rajshekhar V, Oommen A (1997) Serological studies using ELISA and EITB in patients with solitary cysticercus granuloma and seizures. Neurol Inf Epidemiol 2:177–180
29.
Rajshekhar V, Wilson M, Schantz PM (1991) Cysticercus immunoblot assay in Indian patients with single small enhancing CT lesions. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 54:561–562CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
30.
Rajshekhar V, Raghava MV, Prabhakaran V, Oommen A, Muliyil J (2006) Active epilepsy as an index of burden of neurocysticercosis in Vellore district, India. Neurology 67:2135–2139CrossRefPubMed
31.
32.
Singh G, Bawa J, Chinna D, Chaudhary A, Saggar K, Modi M, Sander JW (2012) Association between epilepsy and cysticercosis and toxocariasis: a population-based case- control study in a slum in India. Epilepsia 53:2203–2208CrossRefPubMed
33.
Singh A, Singh AK, Singh SK, Paliwal VK, Gupta RK, Prasad KN (2014) Association of ICAM-1 K469E polymorphism with neurocysticercosis. J Neuroimmunol 276:166–171CrossRefPubMed
34.
35.
36.
37.
Tsang VC, Brand JA, Boyer AE (1989) An enzyme-linked immunoelectrotransfer blot assay and glycoprotein antigens for diagnosing human cysticercosis (Taenia solium). J Infect Dis 159:50–59CrossRefPubMed
38.
Verma A, Prasad KN, Gupta RK, Singh AK, Nyati KK, Rizwan A, Pandey CM, Paliwal VK (2010) Toll-like receptor 4 polymor- phism and its association with symptomatic neurocysticercosis. J Infect Dis 202:1219–1225CrossRefPubMed
39.
Yamasaki H, Allan JC, Sato MO, Nakao M, Sako Y, Nakaya K, Qiu D, Mamuti W, Craig PS, Ito A (2004) DNA differential diagnosis of taeniasis and cysticercosis by multiplex PCR. J Clin Microbiol 42:548–553CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
40.
Zammarchi L, Strohmeyer M, Bartalesi F, Bruno E, Muñoz J, Buonfrate D, Nicoletti A, García HH, Pozio E, Bartoloni A, COHEMI Project Study Group (2013) Epidemiology and management of cysticercosis and Taenia solium taeniasis in Europe: systematic review 1990–2011. PLoS One 8:e69537CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral
Metadata
Title
Pediatric neurocysticercosis
Authors
Ricardo Santos de Oliveira
Dinark Conceição Viana
Benedicto Oscar Colli
Vedantam Rajshekhar
José Francisco Manganelli Salomão
Publication date
01-10-2018
Publisher
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in
Child's Nervous System / Issue 10/2018
Print ISSN: 0256-7040
Electronic ISSN: 1433-0350
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s00381-018-3889-4

Other articles of this Issue 10/2018

Child's Nervous System 10/2018 Go to the issue

Abstracts

46th Annual Meeting of International Society for Pediatric Neurosurgery, Tel Aviv, ISRAEL, 7-11 October, 2018

Special Annual Issue

Prophylactic antibiotics in pediatric neurological surgery

Obituary

Luis Schut, MD, FAANS(L). 1932–2018

Special Annual Issue

Neuroendoscopic lavage for the treatment of CSF infection with hydrocephalus in children

Special Annual Issue

Subdural empyema in children

Obituary

A tribute to professor Jonathan C Peter