Pork tapeworm nests in the brain of a 16-year-old boy

The pork tapeworm mass localized in the brain forms a very large cyst causing the patient to have severe headaches and numbness in one half of the body.

Doctor Dao Trung Hieu, Deputy Director of Children's Hospital 1, said the patient from Kon Tum was admitted to the hospital 3 months ago with a severe headache. An MRI scan revealed a mass in the brain. The patient had a special constitution, a congenital immunodeficiency, combined with an infection that made preparing for surgery very difficult.

"The patient is 16 years old but weighs only 20 kg, equivalent to a 5-year-old child. There were times when I thought I would have to give up because his general condition could not handle a major surgery," Dr. Hieu shared. After consulting with the entire hospital many times, the boy was given attention to improving his general condition and receiving immune factors before surgery.

After more than a week of surgery, the boy's headache has subsided, the surgical wound is dry, and he can sit up. Photo: Le Phuong.

After the preparation, on March 24, the 5-hour surgery went smoothly. Post-operative examination results determined that the mass occupying the brain was a pork tapeworm. This is an extremely rare condition. The patient may have had a tapeworm larva that entered the digestive tract while eating, then broke out into the bloodstream, residing in the brain as a very large cyst.

Dr. Phan Minh Tri, Department of General Surgery, said that the mass occupying the brain was not typical for a tumor or parasitic lesion, making initial identification difficult. Doctors decided to operate because increased intracranial pressure caused the child to have headaches and weakness on one side of the body. After surgery to identify pork tapeworm, the patient received post-operative care, treatment for intestinal tapeworm infection, and continued monthly immunotherapy.

Doctors advise that pork tapeworm larvae can come from water sources or undercooked pork, when entering the body will continue to spread into the blood and localize in many places. It is necessary to eat cooked food, boiled water, and use food of clear origin.

According to VnExpress