Case #462 – February, 2018
A 17 year-old male patient presented with cellulitis and a mass in the eye over a 3 month period. It was situated at the limbus near the lateral rectus muscle. Surgical exploration revealed a sub-conjunctival cystic mass about 1 cm in diameter. The mass was subsequently excised and sent to the pathologist for examination. The attached images were taken from hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) stained sections. What is your diagnosis? Based on what criteria?
This case and images were kindly provided by Dhruv Pathology & Molecular Diagnostic Lab, Nagpur, Maharashtra, India.
Figure A
Figure B
This was a case of cysticercosis caused by the larval form of Taenia solium. Presence of cysticerci in subcutaneous tissue is a typical presentation of cysticercosis. Diagnostic features observed were:
- the larval cestode’s neck region with part of the scolex (Figure A)
- calcareous corpuscles (Figure B, enlarged, green arrows).
Figure A
Figure B
More on cysticercosis: https://www.cdc.gov/dpdx/cysticercosis/index.html
Images presented in the dpdx case studies are from specimens submitted for diagnosis or archiving. On rare occasions, clinical histories given may be partly fictitious.