Abstract

Background: Cysticercosis is an increasingly common medical problem in the United States, especially in the Southwest. The clinical syndromes caused by T solium are categorized as either cysticercosis (cysts in various tissues including the brain) or taeniasis (intestinal tapeworm infection). Fine needle aspiration cytology [FNAC] plays a rapid, safe, and reliable role in prompt diagnosis of this disease.

Objectives: To evaluate the role of Fine needle aspiration cytology in diagnosis of cysticercosis and to analyse the clinical feature of cysticercosis in kumaon region.

Material and Methods: This retrospective study of ten years duration (January 2007 to March 2017) was carried out in a tertiary care centre of kumaon region of Uttarakhand. FNAC was performed on 43 Cases who presented with palpabe nodules at different sites. Subsequent excision biopsy was done whenever necessary.

Results: This study was conducted on 43 patients, presented with painless subcutaneous and intramuscular nodules at various sites. Majority of the patients were females. The most commonly affected sites were head and neck followed by abdominal wall. In most of the cases (20 cases; 46.51%) clear/watery fluid like material was aspirated. Definitive diagnosis of Cysticercosis on FNAC was made in 32 cases. In Rest 11 cases (which were non diagnostic on FNAC) follow-up histopathological examination was done and confirmed diagnosis of Cysticercosis was made.

Conclusion: FNAC is a simple, sensitive, cost-effective, and rapid diagnostic tool for diagnosis of cysticercosis as cytological diagnosis is quite clear where the actual parasitic structures are identified in the smear.

Keywords: Cysticercosis, cases, diagnosis, Fine needle aspiration cytology, nodules