Histological description of tomographic images of Taenia solium cysticerci in pig brains.

In the computed tomography (CT) scans of five pigs with neurocysticercosis (Taenia solium), interesting lesions produced by the larvae were selected. The pigs were euthanized and the corresponding lesions in their brains identified and processed for histopathology. It was found that the hypodense areas in CT scans corresponded to vesicular larvae that are presumably viable. The hyperdense areas were either solid in nature or had formed a rim around a hypodense center and in the brain slice they were either solid granulomas or colloidal cysts with inflammatory reaction in the periphery, perivascular cuffing, and vasculitis. It was not always possible to classify larvae as meningeal or parenchymatous in the CT.