OCT scan reveals worm in six-year-old’s eye

Indian clinicians have described the case of a six-year-old girl who was found to have a tapeworm in her eye after she presented to hospital with seizures.

Writing in BMJ Case Reports, the authors note that the young patient presented with left focal seizures.

Neuroimaging revealed a ring enhancing lesion in the right parietal lobe, while a fundus examination showed a hypopigmented area in the left retina halfway between the fovea and optic disc.

Visual acuity was 6/6 in both eyes, with no evidence of uveitis or any other abnormality of the anterior segment.

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) revealed the presence of a scolex beneath the retinal pigment epithelium, suggesting neurocysticercosis.

Following a 28-day course of prednisolone and albendazole, a further OCT scan revealed that the scolex had resolved while neuroimaging showed that the ring enhancing lesion had disappeared.

The authors highlighted that neurocysticercosis is a relatively common disease in tropical countries, but it is often difficult to diagnose.

OCT can aid with diagnosis of the condition because of the high resolution of scans, they added. 

Image credits: Getty and BMJ Case Reports 2018