Short course of albendazole therapy for neurocysticercosis
J. Sotelo, P. Penagos, F. Escobedo and O. H. Del Brutto
Instituto Nacional de Neurologia-y Neurocirugia, Mexico City, DF.
Albendazole is now used for therapy of neurocysticercosis; however,
duration of treatment has usually been empirically determined. In this
study we shortened the length of therapy from one month in previous
reports, to one week. Twelve patients with parenchymal brain cysticercosis
were treated with albendazole for eight days at daily doses of 15 mg/kg of
body weight. After three months of treatment the number of cysts on
computed tomography had decreased from 185 to six; a 97% reduction in the
number of lesions. Total remission of all cysts was seen in nine patients.
Two cases had been unsuccessfully treated before with praziquantel, in both
instances albendazole therapy was effective with 100% improvement. Our
results indicated that a short course of albendazole is highly effective
for treatment of neurocysticercosis.
