Title
Antiparasitic treatment of neurocysticercosis - The effect of cyst destruction in seizure evolution
Date Issued
01 November 2017
Access level
open access
Resource Type
review
Publisher(s)
Academic Press Inc.
Abstract
Antiparasitic agents against Taenia solium cysticercosis have been in use since 1979, although its use has been questioned on the basis that cysts would die naturally and thus treatment-induced inflammation is unnecessary. In addition, isolated reports have also questioned whether neurocysticercosis (NCC) is a cause of epilepsy. After more than three and a half decades, a large body of evidence is available. Little if any doubt exists about NCC as a cause of seizures — NCC is consistently associated with seizures when appropriate groups are compared, and in a large subset of cases, seizure semiology correlates with the anatomical location of lesions. Cyst degeneration and the subsequent inflammatory reaction increase seizure expression, although patients with non-inflamed cysts may have seizures, as do patients with long-standing, not inflamed calcified scars. Assessment of the evidence on cysticidal efficacy, safety, and the impact of cyst destruction in decreasing seizures leads to the conclusion that the benefits of antiparasitic treatment in parenchymal brain cysticercosis clearly outweigh the risks, and have provided substantive evidence of the role of NCC as a cause of seizures and epilepsy. Antiparasitic therapy should be considered a primary option in the management of patients with live or degenerating brain NCC cysts. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled “Neurocysticercosis and Epilepsy”
Start page
158
End page
162
Volume
76
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Neurología clínica Parasitología
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85020462489
PubMed ID
Source
Epilepsy and Behavior
ISSN of the container
15255050
Sponsor(s)
Dr. Garcia is supported by a Wellcome Trust International Senior Fellowship in Public Health and Tropical Medicine and is funded by FIC NIH Training Grant TW001140 and NINDS U01 NS086974 . Dr. Del Brutto is supported by Universidad Espíritu Santo – Ecuador , Guayaquil – Ecuador. Fogarty International Center D43TW001140
Sources of information: Directorio de Producción Científica Scopus