Orbital Cysticercosis: Clinical Manifestations,
Diagnosis, Management, and Outcome
Suryasnata Rath, MS, FRCS,
1
Santosh G. Honavar, MD, FACS,
1
Milind Naik, MD,
1
Raj Anand, MD,
1
Bhartendu Agarwal, MD,
1
Sannapaneni Krishnaiah, MPH,
2
G. Chandra Sekhar, MD, FRCS
1
Purpose: To describe the clinical manifestations, diagnosis, management, and outcome of orbital cysticer-
cosis in a tertiary eye care center in Southern India.
Design: Retrospective observational case series.
Participants: A total of 171 patients with orbital cysticercosis.
Methods: Retrospective case series involving consecutive patients with orbital cysticercosis from March
1990 to December 2001.
Main Outcome Measures: Clinical resolution and significant residual deficit.
Results: The median age at presentation was 13 years (range 2– 65 years), and 93 patients (54.4%) were
male. The 3 main symptoms at presentation were periocular swelling (38%), proptosis (24%), and ptosis
(14%) with a median duration of 2 (range 0 –24) months. The 3 main signs at presentation included ocular
motility restriction (64.3%), proptosis (44.4%), and diplopia (36.8%). The cyst locations in the decreasing
order of frequency were anterior orbit (69%), subconjunctival space (24.6%), posterior orbit (5.8%), and the
eyelid (0.6%). In all, 80.7% of patients had cysts in relation to an extraocular muscle. The superior rectus
(33.3%) was the most commonly involved extraocular muscle. Contact B-scan ultrasonography was diag-
nostic of cysticercosis in 84.4% of patients. Orbital cysticercosis was managed medically in 158 of 166
patients. Although 149 patients received a combination of oral albendazole and prednisolone, 1 patient
received oral albendazole alone, 7 patients received oral prednisolone alone, and 1 patient received oral
praziquantel. Surgery was performed in 8 patients. Clinical resolution was seen in 128 of 138 patients
(92.8%) at 1 month and 81 of 85 patients (95.3%) at 3 months. A significant residual deficit was present in
29 of 138 patients (21.0%) at the final follow-up and included proptosis in 7 patients, ptosis in 6 patients,
ocular motility restriction in 3 patients, diplopia in 2 patients, strabismus in 2 patients, and a combination of
the above in 9 patients.
Conclusions: Orbital cysticercosis is a common clinical condition in the developing world. It typically affects
young individuals and has a wide spectrum of clinical manifestations. Both B-scan ultrasonography and
computed tomography scan are useful in confirming the diagnosis. Despite resolution of cysticercosis with
medical management, a significant proportion of patients may have residual functional deficits.
Financial Disclosure(s): The authors have no proprietary or commercial interest in any materials discussed
in this article. Ophthalmology 2010;117:600 – 605 © 2010 by the American Academy of Ophthalmology.
Cysticercosis is a parasitic infestation by Cysticercus
cellulosae, which is the larval form of Taenia solium. It
is endemic in regions with poor sanitation. Human infec-
tion occurs by drinking contaminated water, eating un-
cooked vegetables infested with eggs of the worm, and
autoinfection.
1,2
The most common form of systemic
involvement is neurocysticercosis.
1
Ocular and adnexal
cysticercosis represents 13% to 46% of systemic dis-
ease.
3
An earlier publication from India had reported
ocular involvement in 12.8% of all cases of cysticercosis;
the majority were located in the subconjunctival space,
and only 1 case had orbital involvement.
4
Increased
availability of imaging techniques has helped detect or-
bital cysticercosis in the recent times.
5
This large case
series describes the clinical manifestations, management,
and outcome of orbital cysticercosis in a tertiary eye care
center in Southern India.
Patients and Methods
A retrospective chart review was carried out of all consecutive
patients with orbital cysticercosis presenting between March 1990
and December 2001. Orbital cysticercosis was diagnosed when
any of the following was present: cyst with a scolex on imaging
(B-scan ultrasonography or computed tomography scan), cystic
lesion without a scolex on imaging with therapeutic response to
anticysticercal therapy, or histopathologic examination of the ex-
cised cyst showed cysticercosis.
Data collected included age, gender, laterality, predominant
symptoms and signs at presentation, referral diagnosis, prior treat-
ment, and response to such treatment. Clinical examination details
included presence and degree of proptosis, strabismus, motility
limitation, diplopia, ptosis, and periocular swelling and eyelid
edema. Clinical and differential diagnoses, serology, and results of
imaging (B-scan ultrasonography and computed tomography scan)
were documented. Standard medical management comprised oral
albendazole 15 mg/kg body weight per day for 4 weeks and oral
600 © 2010 by the American Academy of Ophthalmology ISSN 0161-6420/10/$–see front matter
Published by Elsevier Inc. doi:10.1016/j.ophtha.2009.07.030