A 59-year-old Korean man complained of a painless scrotal hard nodule and weak urine stream. The ultrasound scan revealed a 2.2-cm sized round heteroechogenic nodule located in the extratesticular area. Microscopic hematuria was detected in routine laboratory examinations. On scrotal exploration, multiple spargana were incidentally found in the mass and along the left spermatic cord. On cystoscopy, a 10-mm sized mucosal elevation was found in the right side of the bladder dome. After transurethral resection of the covered mucosa, larval tapeworms were removed from inside of the nodule by forceps. Plerocercoids of Spirometra erinacei was confirmed morphologically and also by PCR-sequencing analysis from the extracted tissue of the urinary bladder. So far as the literature is concerned, this is the first worm (PCR)-proven case of sparganosis in the urinary bladder.
Animals ; Cystoscopy ; DNA, Helminth/chemistry/genetics ; Hematuria/diagnosis ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Scrotum/*parasitology/*pathology/ultrasonography ; Sequence Analysis, DNA ; Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid ; Sparganosis/*diagnosis/parasitology ; Spirometra/*isolation & purification ; Urinary Bladder Diseases/*parasitology/*pathology/surgery

We report here a case of inguinal sparganosis, initially regarded as myeloid sarcoma, diagnosed in a patient undergone allogeneic hematopoietic transplantation (HSCT). A 56-year-old male patient having myelodysplastic syndrome was treated with allogeneic HSCT after myeloablative conditioning regimen. At day 5 post-HSCT, the patient complained of a painless palpable mass on the left scrotum and inguinal area. Pelvic magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography revealed suspected myeloid sarcoma. Gun-biopsy was performed, and the result revealed eosinophilic infiltrations without malignancy. Subsequent serologic IgG antibody test was positive for sparganum. Excisional biopsy as a therapeutic diagnosis was done, and the diagnosis of sparganosis was confirmed eventually. This is the first report of sparganosis after allogeneic HSCT mimicking myeloid sarcoma, giving a lesson that the physicians have to consider the possibility of sparganosis in this clinical situation and perform adequate diagnostic and therapeutic approaches.
Animals ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation ; Humans ; Larva ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Myelodysplastic Syndromes/complications/surgery ; Republic of Korea ; Sarcoma, Myeloid/diagnosis ; Scrotum/parasitology/*pathology ; Sparganosis/parasitology/*pathology/radiography ; Sparganum/*immunology/isolation & purification ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; Transplantation, Homologous