[Intraocular cysticercosis: a difficult diagnosis]

The authors describe a case of intraocular cysticercosis discovered in the ophthalmology department ef Edouard Herriot Hospital. With no biological signs, the diagnosis was made after vitrectomy because the visit was late in the course of the disorder, the patient lived in the mountains, and he had failed to mention a trip to the West Indies 3 months before. The symptomatology began with uveitis worsened in 10 days by greater inflammation in spite of successive corticosteroids, antibiotic, and antiviral therapy. Repeated examination and serological and radiological investigations did not help establish the etiology. Only vitrectomy provided the diagnosis, the vitreous containing cysticercus. This discover was all the more surprising that the patient lived in the French Alps and a trip 3 months before had been forgotten. A review ol the literature allowed us to rapidly start a postoperative parasite examination to check for cerebral, muscular, cardiac, and subcutaneous localizations and to start treatment with praziquantel (50 mg/kg per day) with corticotherapy (1 mg/kg per day). The eye evolved toward a very inflammatory phthisis, which led to evisceration.