Analysis of Clinical Profile, Investigation, and Management of Ocular Cysticercosis Seen at a Tertiary Referral Centre

Optical Coherence Tomography Features of Ocular Cysticercosis: A Review of Literature With Observer Variation

Ocular cysticercosis is a sparsely reported condition, requiring urgent management. The gold standard for diagnosis is an in toto extraction of the cyst with subsequent histopathology. The procedure can be demanding in contrast to the frequently adopted practice of in vivo cyst lysis. The latter, however, obviates a conventional biopsy. We reviewed published optical coherence tomography (OCT) images of ocular cysticercosis for their suitability to surrogate a conventional biopsy and identified commonly reported features. We also used triple masking and ascertained the observer agreement on identification of these features. We found that the features of the parasite are much more clearly discernible as compared with features of the involved ocular tissue itself. The hyperreflective cyst wall and scolex and the hyporeflective cyst cavity had the highest frequency and observer agreement among all the analyzed features, suggesting their use for diagnosis. We could match many of the OCT features with the previously reported histopathological findings, supporting the role of OCT as a diagnostic adjunct and a substitute for conventional biopsy. Conversely, features of the ocular tissue could be judged poorly with low observer agreement, suggesting poor prognostic ability of OCT. [Ophthalmic Surg Lasers Imaging Retina 2022;53:446-454.].

Case of Orbital Cysticercosis Presenting as Recurrent Cellulitis Diagnosed on Multi-Modality Imaging

Cysticercosis results in humans when infected with the larval stage of taenia solium which is called cysticercus cellulosae. The target organs usually involved are the brain, eyes, spine, and skeletal muscles. The ocular form of cysticercosis can affect the intra-ocular structures or involve the orbital adnexa. Intraocular involvement is relatively common and is readily diagnosed owing to its obvious visibility on a basic slit-lamp examination, however, affection of orbital adnexa is infrequent. Moreover, solitary involvement of one of the extraocular muscles is rare and difficult to diagnose as it presents with a spectrum of non-specific symptoms. We report a rare case of orbital cysticercosis with a solitary left superior rectus muscle involvement, who presented with recurrent on and off lid swelling extending for two years with double vision and restriction of downward gaze.

Cysticercosis in ophthalmology

Cysticercosis is caused by Taenia solium, a cestode or tapeworm that preferentially affects the subcutaneous tissue, brain, muscle, and the eye. It is traditionally a disease of low socioeconomic regions, but large-scale population migration has made it a matter of global concern. Its ocular invasion is a potentially blinding disease. In the last two decades, there has been considerable discussion of cysticercosis; however, most comes from a limited number of case observations. Thus, to overcome this limitation, we summarize and analyse twenty years of medical literature (from 2000 to 2020) on cysticercosis in ophthalmology.