Korean J Parasitol.
2002 Dec;40(4):187-189. 10.3347/kjp.2002.40.4.187.
A case of breast sparganosis
- Affiliations
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- 1Department of Parasitology and Institute of Tropical Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul 120-752, Korea.
- KMID: 1384732
- DOI: http://doi.org/10.3347/kjp.2002.40.4.187
Abstract
- A 29-year-old Korean woman visited the Department of Surgery in MizMedi Hospital with a palpable itching mass on the right breast that had existed for the past 7 months. She had no history to eat either frogs or snakes, but had the history of drinking impure water. Sonography revealed a serpiginous hypoechoic tubular structure associated with partial fat necrosis in breast parenchymal layer and subcutaneous fat layer. It also revealed oval cystic lesions. At operation, an ivory white opaque ribbon-like worm that measured 16.5 cm in length and 0.5 cm in width was extracted. Anti-sparganum specific serum IgG level in the patient's serum (absorbance = 0.71), measured by ELISA, was found to be significantly higher than those of normal controls (cut off point = 0.21). Sonography and ELISA appear to be helpful to diagnose sparganosis. Breast sparganosis is rarely found throughout the world.
