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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Asian J Neurosurg 2021; 16(03): 582-586
DOI: 10.4103/ajns.AJNS_521_20
Case Report

A severe case of brain myiasis: Treatment rationale and review of literature

Christian Curzi
Department of Neuroscience, Università di Padova, Padova
,
Viola Bartoletti
Department of Neuroscience, Università di Padova, Padova
,
Giuseppe Canova
1   Department of Neurosurgery, Aulss 2 Marca Trevigiana, Treviso
,
Enrico Giordan
1   Department of Neurosurgery, Aulss 2 Marca Trevigiana, Treviso
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Cerebral myiasis is a rare condition caused by a parasitic infestation of fly larvae feeding on the host's necrotic or living tissue. Only 16 cases of cerebral myiasis have been published. We presented the case of a 72-year-old man with a neglected infestation of an extensive ulcerative cancer of the scalp. A large cranial lesion, with exposed brain and dura mater and severe Sarcophaga carnaria maggot infestation, was evident. We gently removed the maggots and covered the defect with thick gauze and sodium hypochlorite solution dressing. We additionally present a review of the literature to highlight shared features and suggestions for care management. In all cases, there was an absence of fatal meningitis and encephalitis, which is surprising given the open skull erosion with prolonged cortical exposure and points to the protective effects of larvae wound infestation.

Key-words:

Brain - cerebral infestation - larvae - myiasis - neglected

Financial support and sponsorship

Nil.




Publication History

Received: 03 December 2020

Accepted: 26 March 2021

Article published online:
16 August 2022

© 2021. Asian Congress of Neurological Surgeons. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

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