title: Neurocysticercosis. Two hundred thirty-eight cases from a California hospital.
abstract: Neurocysticercosis is no longer a medical curiosity in the United States. Two hundred thirty-eight patients with neurocysticercosis were studied between 1981 and 1986 at the Los Angeles County-University of Southern California Medical Center, Los Angeles. Presenting signs and symptoms were protean--ranging from a single convulsion to coma and death. Fifty-one patients (21%) presented with an acute increase in intracranial pressure. There were 71 patients who ultimately required a shunting procedure or craniotomy. Presentation, diagnosis, management, and laboratory adjuncts (the role of cysticercosis titers and the electroencephalogram) are discussed. Mortality and morbidity can be reduced by maintaining a high degree of suspicion in populations at increased risk for cysticercosis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Los Angeles County-University of Southern California Medical Center 90033.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Scharf
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000927:Anticonvulsants / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002493:Central Nervous System Diseases / Q000150:complications* / Q000208:ethnology / Q000628:therapy; D002557:Cerebrospinal Fluid Shunts; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003399:Craniotomy; D003551:Cysticercosis / Q000150:complications* / Q000208:ethnology / Q000628:therapy; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005260:Female; D006630:Hispanic or Latino; D006801:Humans; D006849:Hydrocephalus / Q000150:complications / Q000601:surgery; D008297:Male; D008800:Mexico / Q000208:ethnology; D008875:Middle Aged
chemical_list: D000927:Anticonvulsants