Orofacial cysticercosis: Report of a rare case with review of literature

Cysticercosis is common in developing countries in which the combination of rural society, crowding, and poor sanitation facilities allows greater contact between humans and pigs and thus more opportunities for fecal contamination of food and water occurs. They are rarely located in oral and perioral tissues, particularly in the muscles of mastication, muscle of the facial expression, suprahyoid muscles, and postcervical musculature and also as in the tongue, buccal mucosa, and lip. Cysticercosis is a potentially fatal parasitic disease that rarely found in the maxillofacial region in humans. This paper reports the case of a young female patient presented with isolated lesion of cysticercosis involving buccinator muscle. In conclusion, we suggest that cysticercosis should be considered in the differential diagnosis of intraoral solitary nodules within the oral and maxillofacial region, especially in endemic areas. High-resolution ultrasonography is an excellent noninvasive and cost-effective modality for the diagnosis and also suggests that localized parasitic infections such as Cysticercus cellulosae can be successfully treated with conservative management using oral antiparasitic (antihelminthic) medication.