Computed tomography in neurocysticercosis.

Neurocysticercosis is a major public health problem in developing countries. Before computed tomography became available its diagnosis was very restricted and the conventional diagnostic methods were unreliable. It also was frequently necessary to submit patients to costly and dangerous surgical procedures to confirm the precise nature of the disease. One hundred and seventy-one patients with neurocysticercosis were evaluated by computed tomography. The diagnostic findings of the different types of lesions produced by the larva of the parasite (Taenia solium) in the central nervous system, and the advantages of CT in the diagnosis of this clinical entity are described, as well as the main signs and symptoms of the patients referred for examination. The effect of corticosteroids in the acute stages of the disease and the changes they provoke in the CT images are described.