Cerebral cysticercosis: surgical considerations.

Cerebral cysticercosis is no longer an uncommon disease in areas such as Southern California to which there is extensive travel and immigration from adjoining areas in which the disease is endemic. The diagnosis of cerebral cysticercosis should be entertained in patients from such an endemic area when they present with neurological symptoms and characteristic CT findings. There is no specific or definitive therapy for the disease; treatment should be directed at alleviating its manifestations. We recommend surgical consideration in those patients with hydrocephalus, intraventricular cysts, solitary cysts producing uncontrolled seizures, and solitary cysts producing significant mass lesion effect.