cerebral schistosomiasis caused by schistosoma mansoni: a case report with clinical analysis

central nervous system involvement arising from schistosomiasis is uncommon. it may be produced most fre­quently by schistosoma japonicum infection, but reports of s. mansoni presenting as an intracerebral mass lesion are particularly rare. the authors describe the case of a 35-year-old woman with a 3-month history of partial epilep­tic seizures and head­aches. she immigrated to egypt 4 years ago and had worked in iraq for 2 years after the immigration. the patient's gen­eral physical and neurological examinations were unremarkable. magnetic resonance (mr) imaging revealed an enhanc­ing lesion with surrounding edema and mild mass effect in the left frontal lobe. a stereotactic brain biopsy demonstrated intraparenchymal granulomas surrounding s. mansoni eggs. s. mansoni was identified by stool examination. prednisone (1 mg/kg per day for 1 week, with gradual with­drawal during the following 3 weeks) and praziquantel (2 doses at 20 mg/kg per day) therapy was initiated. the patient's symptoms resolved following medical treatment and the follow-up mr imaging yielded normal findings. this case is the rare imported case of cerebral schistosomiasis in china and the neuroschistosomiasis should be considered as the patient lived in a region in which this disease is endemic.