1. Alveolar echinococcosis presenting with simultaneous cerebral and spinal involvement
- Author
-
Wanlin He, Xuhui Hui, Jinli Meng, and Jian Cheng
- Subjects
Adult ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Weakness ,030231 tropical medicine ,Albendazole ,03 medical and health sciences ,0302 clinical medicine ,Neuroimaging ,Echinococcosis ,Humans ,Medicine ,030212 general & internal medicine ,Radical surgery ,Muscle Weakness ,business.industry ,Brain ,Muscle weakness ,medicine.disease ,Spinal cord ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,Spinal Cord ,Female ,Neurology (clinical) ,Radiology ,medicine.symptom ,business ,Lumbosacral joint ,medicine.drug - Abstract
A 37-year-old Tibetan shepherdess presented with headache and weakness of the lower limbs for 10 months. Examination disclosed a positive straight-leg-raising test. Neuroimaging showed a heterogeneous mass in the left temporal lobe (figure 1) and an intradural mass in the lumbosacral canal with L4 vertebral body destruction (figure 2). Chest and abdominal CT scans were negative. Two operations yielded a tissue diagnosis of alveolar echinococcosis and postoperative albendazole therapy was started. Simultaneous involvement of brain and the spinal cord in primary extrahepatic alveolar echinococcosis is rare. Early diagnosis and radical surgery followed by continuous benzimidazole treatment are crucial.1
- Published
- 2017