Neurocysticercosis -Case Report-

We presented a case of 44-year-old Chinese woman who showed a transient edematous change in the left occipital region due to neurocysticercosis. She noticed multiple subcutaneous nodules in her body when she received the diagnosis of cysticercosis at the age of 15 years. She then manifested several episodes of generalized convulsions a year. She immigrated to Japan when she was 28 years old. In February 2004, she was admitted to our hospital because of headache and abnormal visual sensations like flashing lights. Neurological examination indicated a homonymous partial quadrantanopia in the right inferior visual field. A computed tomography (CT) revealed a noncystic enhancing lesion in the left occipital region and a lot of small calcified lesions disseminated in the brain. The findings of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies suggested the edematous change of the lesion in the left occipital area. X-ray films showed a lot of cigar-shaped calcifications in her extremities. Tapeworms were not found in gastrointestinal tract even by careful gastrografin-enema examinations. Repeated MRI demonstrated resolution of the edematous lesion in the left occipital lobe. Her transient brain lesion was presumably induced by immunologic reactions to the old cysticercosis lesions