title: A case of sparganosis in the leg.
abstract: The life-span of the sparganum in humans is not exactly known, but it may survive longer than 5 years in some patients. We experienced a case infected with a sparganum that is presumed to have lived for 20 years in a patient's leg. The patient was a 60-year-old woman, and she was admitted to a hospital due to ankle pain that was aggravated on dorsiflexion. She had noticed a mass on her knee some 20 years ago, but she received no medical management for it. The mass moved into the ankle joint 3 months before the current admission, and then the aforementioned symptoms appeared. A living sparganum was recovered by surgery, and the calcified tract near the knee was proved to be the pathway along which the larva had passed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Dankook University College of Medicine, Cheonan 330-714, Korea.
authors.forename: Kyung-Joon
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Na-Hye
authors.initials: NH
authors.lastname: Myung
authors.forename: Hyun-Woo
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Park
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D006651:Histocytochemistry; D006801:Humans; D007866:Leg / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000469:parasitology / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D008853:Microscopy; D008875:Middle Aged; D011859:Radiography; D013031:Sparganosis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000469:parasitology / Q000601:surgery; D013032:Sparganum / Q000302:isolation & purification*