Sparganosis is a rare parasitic disease caused by migrating plerocercoid tapeworm larva of the genus Spirometra. Infection in humans is mainly caused by the ingestion of raw or inadequately cooked flesh of infected frogs, snakes, and chickens. Here, we report a rare case of a 45-year-old man who was admitted to our hospital with left lower chest pain. The chest radiograph and computed tomography (CT) scan revealed localized pleural effusion in the left lower lobe; further, peripheral blood eosinophilia and eosinophilic pleural effusion were present. Percutaneous catheter drainage was performed, which revealed long worm-shaped material that was identified as a sparganum by DNA sequencing. The patient showed clinical improvement after drainage of the sparganum. This study demonstrates the importance of considering parasitic diseases in the differential diagnosis of eosinophilic pleural effusion.
Animals ; Anthelmintics/therapeutic use ; Eosinophilia/*etiology ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Pleurisy/*etiology ; Praziquantel/therapeutic use ; Sparganosis/*complications/diagnosis ; Sparganum/*isolation & purification

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