38.107.191.97
MedPix® Medical Image DatabaseDisease Topic 769
(Reviewed and Approved) :: Link to this Topic
Click Here for MedPix®-2
» » - - Print Topic - - « «
Contributor: blank - No Academic Affiliation
Scroll to Bottom to Display Images (if available)
More Like This ? Cysticercosis
Factoid 769 - Created: 2000-01-14 14:08:38-05 - Modified: 2001-09-27 09:23:02-04
ACR Codes: 4.2
Cysticercosis
(Outside the Central Nervous System)

Radiological Diagnosis

The calcified cysticercus produces single (rarely) or multiple (often several hundred) calcifications in the soft tissues, which are linear or oval in shape and usually measure 4-10 mm or more in length and 2-5 mm in width. Cysts as large as 23 mm have been reported. The calcified cysts will have their long axes in the plane of the surrounding muscle bundle. In some series, calcified larvae have been demonstrated in up to 97% of patients examined 5 or more years after infection; such a high rate of detection is not to be expected routinely. Some patients with cerebral cysticercosis will have no evidence of calcified cysts in the muscles and are unaware of their infection.

Partially calcified cysts and even noncalcified cysts have been demonstrated by soft tissue radiography. The technique is useful when there is a localized (clinical) swelling, but as a method of "search" it is unreliable and unjustified.

Cysticerci may be seen in the lungs, where they are about 3-6 mm in diameter. The outer shell is calcified, with a somewhat lighter and softer center. In the lungs, the cysts remain more nearly round compared with the oval or elongate calcified cysts in muscle. In the liver, the cysticercus is larger and has been described as the size of a cherry (1 cm in diameter). If a cyst is seen in the liver and there are other calcified cysts in the muscles or lungs, the diagnosis is reasonably reliable; but if cysts are seen in either the lung or liver solely (a rarity), they cannot be differentiated from other causes of small calcified nodules.

Display Images - || - Image Slide Sorter
Location:
MSK - Musculoskeletal 		Sublocation:
Soft-tissues		Category:
Infection, parasite
More Like This ? - Find Related Topics: Click on the Location, Sublocation, or Category Links Above
Related Web Site(s): Open Related Link(s)
Send this Search to ... More Like This ?  - - CHORUS - - Google™
Prepared by: blank
Affiliation: No Academic Affiliation - || - Author Profile
Approved by: James G. Smirniotopoulos, M.D.
Affiliation: Uniformed Services University - || - Editor Profile
-


Use this MedPix® Visitor Feedback Form for Comments and Suggestions

MedPix® is sponsored by the Department of Radiology and Radiological Sciences, USUHS, Bethesda, MD
We do not accept paid advertisements.

This website is accredited by Health On the Net Foundation. Click to verify. We comply with the HONcode standard
for trustworthy health information:
verify here.

Text and Images may be Copyrighted © 1999 - 2009 by the Original Content Contributors.
Copyrighted materials are reproduced here with their Permission.
MedPix® is a Registered Trademark of USUHS :: The MedPix® Database Engine is Patented - USPTO No. 7,080,098
Portions of MedPix® are Copyright © 1999 - 2009 by J.G. Smirniotopoulos, M.D. & H. Irvine, M.D.
The MedPix® Classification Schema Copyright © 1999 - 2009 by J.G.Smirniotopoulos,M.D.
MedPix® has displayed more than   251,711,230   pages since 3 September 2000.
Database Successfully Disconnected