Neurocysticercosis in a Japanese woman with lung cancer who repeatedly visited endemic countries

BACKGROUND: Taenia solium, present in most developing countries, infects many individuals and may result in their death. Neurocysticercosis (NCC) develops after invasion of the brain by parasitic larvae. It is the most common parasitic disease of the human central nervous system. On imaging scans it can be similar to brain tumors. We report a patient with a metastatic brain tumor and NCC. The co-presence of NCC was diagnosed based on specific neuroimaging- and epidemiologic findings. CASE PRESENTATION: A 36-year-old non-smoking Japanese woman with a history of non-small-cell lung cancer had undergone resection of the lower lobe followed by cytotoxic chemotherapy 2 years before apparently suffering recurrence. A positron emission computed tomography (PET) scan incidentally revealed multiple intracranial cold spots exhibiting differences in their shape and size. On brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans we observed many different patterns of peripheral edema and gadolinium-enhancing effects. As she had often visited Latin America and Southeast Asia and had eaten raw pork and Kimchi, we suspected that the brain lesions were due to NCC rather than metastatic brain tumors. However, serum immunoblotting assay and DNA analysis were negative for T. solium. Rather than performing resection, we administered albendazole (ABZ) and dexamethasone because her earlier cytotoxic chemotherapy had elicited severe pancytopenia. Except for a single large lesion in the left frontal lobe, this treatment resulted in a significant reduction in the size of these lesions and a decrease in perilesional edema. She underwent resection of the residual lesion 10 months later. Histology revealed it to be a metastatic tumor. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay for NCC was negative. In the course of 11-months follow-up there has been no recurrence. CONCLUSION: This is the first presentation of NCC in a Japanese woman with a metastatic brain tumor. NCC was incidentally discovered on PET scans and, based on her travel history and epidemiological findings; it was diagnosed and successfully treated with ABZ. NCC is endemic in most developing countries and as visits to such countries have increased, NCC must be ruled out in patients with multiple cystic nodular brain lesions.