Wen GJ, Chen J, Zhang SF, Zhou ZS, Jiao GL. Multiple sparganosis spinal infections mainly in the thoracic region: A case report. World J Clin Cases 2023; 11(36): 8507-8511 [PMID: 38188209 DOI: 10.12998/wjcc.v11.i36.8507]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Gen-Long Jiao, PhD, Doctor, Professor, Department of Orthopaedics, The Sixth Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University, No. 88 Changdong Road, Changping Town, Dongguan 523573, Guangdong Province, China. jiaogenlong@163.com
Research Domain of This Article
Infectious Diseases
Article-Type of This Article
Case Report
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Gan-Jun Wen, Jian Chen, Shi-Fei Zhang, Zhi-Sen Zhou, Gen-Long Jiao, Department of Orthopaedics, The Sixth Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University, Dongguan 523573, Guangdong Province, China
Author contributions: Wen GJ, Chen J, Zhou ZS, Zhang SF, and Jiao GL contributed equally to this work; Wen GJ wrote the manuscript; all authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Informed consent statement: Written informed consent was obtained from the patient for the publication of this case report.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read the CARE Checklist (2016), and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CARE Checklist (2016).
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Gen-Long Jiao, PhD, Doctor, Professor, Department of Orthopaedics, The Sixth Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University, No. 88 Changdong Road, Changping Town, Dongguan 523573, Guangdong Province, China. jiaogenlong@163.com
Received: August 20, 2023 Peer-review started: August 20, 2023 First decision: November 1, 2023 Revised: November 14, 2023 Accepted: December 12, 2023 Article in press: December 12, 2023 Published online: December 26, 2023
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Spinal infection with sparganosis is rarely seen, and multiple spinal infections with sparganosis in the thoracic spine have not been reported.
CASE SUMMARY
In this case report, a 56-year old male patient suffered from back pain for 3 mo. Computed tomography examination of the thoracic spine showed bone destruction of the T4-5 vertebral body, as well as the right pedicle and lamina of T5. Magnetic resonance imaging showed high signals on T2W1 images and fat-suppressed images in the right vertebral body of T4-5 and the right pedicle and lamina of T5, a high signal in the vertebral canal, and similar high signals in the paravertebral and subcutaneous regions of the whole spine. Puncture biopsy showed sparganosis. Following definite diagnosis, the patient was treated with debridement of T4-5 infected lesions under a microscope, bone grafting and internal fixation. Postoperatively, the patient's back pain symptoms were significantly relieved; the incision healed after one-stage treatment, and albendazole antiparasitic treatment was administered.
CONCLUSION
Puncture biopsy is the most reliable method to diagnose infection by sparganum. Removal of infected lesions under the microscope and albendazole for antiparasitic treatment are safe and effective.
Core Tip: Spinal infection with sparganosis is rarely seen, and multiple spinal infections with sparganosis in the thoracic spine have not been reported.
