Cysticercosis differential diagnosis

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Overview

Cysticercosis must be differentiated from other diseases that cause brain lesions and ocular lesions.

Disease	Prominent clinical feature	Lab findings	Radiological findings
Neurocysticercosis	Parenchymal lesions: Presentation depends on the site and number of lesions. Seizures are the most common presentation. It is mostly focal but can have a secondary generalization.	Lab findings are nonspecific.
Brain abscess	Headaches are the most common symptom. Usually, headaches occur on the same side of the abscess and tend to be severe (not responding to analgesics). Fever is not a reliable sign .(2)	Lumbar puncture is contraindicated but when done, it was variable between patients. Culture from the CT-guided aspirated lesion helps in identifying the causative agent.	Contrast enhances CT provides rapid assessment of the size and number of the abscesses. MRI: Diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) MRI can differentiate brain abscess from cystic brain lesions with sensitivity and specificity of 96% (3)
Brain tumors
Brain tuberculoma
Neurosarcoidosis
Encephalitis