© 2003 Fellowship of Postgraduate Medicine
SELF ASSESSMENT ANSWER
A man with numbness and limb weakness
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
The diagnosis is spinal (cervical) intramedullary cysticercosis. The MRI scan (fig 1; see p355) shows a cyst located in the intramedullary region. Cervical laminectomy with removal of the cyst was done. Histopathology examination (fig 2; see p355) proved the lesion to be a cysticercus cyst with scolex (larval cyst).
The treatment of spinal intramedullary cysticercosis could be surgical, medical (that is, cysticidal therapy) or both, based on location and stage of the cyst as also on the experience of the physician. Surgical treatment includes laminectomy with removal of the cyst. Cysticidal drugs given are albendazole in a dose of 15 mg/kg body weight for 14–30 days or praziquantel 50 mg/kg body weight for 15 days along with steroids to reduce the perilesional oedema and to prevent neurological deterioration during the course of cysticidal drugs. Administration of cysticidal drugs before or after surgery is a point of
CiteULike 
Complore 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us 
Digg 
Reddit 
Technorati What's this?
Relevant Article
- A man with numbness and limb weakness
- N K Sharma, T S Jaswal, S Singh, N Marwah, H Singh, M Singh
Postgrad. Med. J. 2003 79: 355-356.[Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]
- Full Text
- Full Text (PDF)
- Submit a response
- Alert me when this article is cited
- Alert me when eLetters are posted
- Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
- Email this link to a friend
- Similar articles in this journal
- Add article to my folders
- Download to citation manager
- Request Permissions
Citing Articles
Google Scholar
Topic Collections
Bookmark with
Register for free content
The full back archive is now available for all BMJ Journals. Institutional subscribers may access the entire archive as part of their subscription. Personal subscribers will also have access to all content when logged in. Non-subscribers who register have free access to all articles published before 2006 right back to volume 1 issue 1. Register here to access the free archive of all BMJ Journals.
Don't forget to sign up for content alerts so you keep up to date with all the articles as they are published.
