Long-term mebendazole therapy may be parasitocidal in alveolar echinococcosis

Long-term chemotherapy of human alveolar echinococcosis with benzimidazole compounds (mebendazole, albendazole) has been shown to be primarily parasitostatic, but its curative (parasitocidal) efficacy is debated. This article reports on a 67-year-old male patient with non-resectable alveolar echnico...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of hepatology 1998-12, Vol.29 (6), p.994-998
Main Authors: Ammann, Rudolf W., Fleiner-Hoffmann, Andrea, Grimm, Felix, Eckert, Johannes
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aged
Alveolar echnicoccosis
Antinematodal Agents - therapeutic use
Biological and medical sciences
Chemotherapy
Diseases caused by cestodes
Echinococcoses
Echinococcosis, Hepatic - drug therapy
Echinococcus multilocularis
Helminthic diseases
Humans
Infectious diseases
Male
Mebendazole
Mebendazole - therapeutic use
Medical sciences
Parasitic diseases
Parasitocidal efficacy
Time Factors
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Long-term chemotherapy of human alveolar echinococcosis with benzimidazole compounds (mebendazole, albendazole) has been shown to be primarily parasitostatic, but its curative (parasitocidal) efficacy is debated. This article reports on a 67-year-old male patient with non-resectable alveolar echnicoccosis of the liver who had been continously treated for 13 years with membendazole (approximately 45–48 mg/kg body weight per day) and who was closely monitored according to a specific protocol. At the age of 80 years the patient died of oesophageal variceal bleeding. During treatment the hepatic lesion had decreased markedly in size in association with progression of perifocal calcification. At autopsy, a well-demarcated, necrotic, partially calcified, parasite-induced lesion of the right liver lobe and secondary biliary cirrhosis were found. Remnants of parasite tissue obtained from the periphery of the lesion showed a small-cystic structure, but it was not viable, as evidenced by transplantation of tissue blocks to rodents. The case is suggestive for a parasitocidal efficacy of mebendazole treatment carried out for 13 years, and is discussed in context with conflicting literature data.
ISSN:0168-8278
1600-0641
DOI:10.1016/S0168-8278(98)80129-3