Abstract
Cysticercosis is a common parasitic infection caused by encysted larvae of the helminth Taenia solium (pork tapeworm). The central nervous system (CNS) is the most important primary site of infection and the disease can present with solitary or multiple space occupying lesions. Less common presentations in the CNS include the racemose variety with macroscopic groups of cysticerci in the subarachnoid space giving the appearance of a cluster of grapes and basal or ventricular cysticercosis causing obstructive hydrocephalus. Involvement of other organs: skeletal muscle, eyes, myocardium and the lungs has also been reported. Cases of cysticercosis presenting as isolated muscle mass (pseudotumours) without involvement of the CNS have also been recently described in the literature. We present a case of a 43-year-old woman who complained of subacute onset of left temporal pain and headache. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed characteristic imaging findings suggestive of cysticercosis of the temporalis muscle.
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References
Ergen FB, Turkbey B, Kerimoglu U et al (2005) Solitary cysticercosis in the intermuscular area of the thigh: a rare and unusual pseudotumor with characteristic imaging findings. J Comput Assist Tomogr; 29:260–263.
Kumar R, Singh V, Rastogi A (2005) Cysticercosis of temporalis muscle: a case report. J Ped Neurol;3:269–272.
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Open Access This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0 ), which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.
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Sethi, P.K., Sethi, N.K., Torgovnick, J. et al. Cysticercosis of temporalis muscle: an unusual cause of temporal headaches. A case report. J Headache Pain 8, 315–316 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10194-007-0410-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10194-007-0410-y