Diagnosis of Breast Sparganosis by Ultrasonography Combine with Molecular Biological Methods

Background: Sparganosis is a parasitic zoonosis caused by the plerocercoid larvae of the genus Spirometra . The sites affected by the plerocercoid infection include subcutaneous tissues, brain, eyes, the abdominal viscera, and urogenital organs. In clinical practice, due to the limited laboratory approaches for the specific detection of sparganum, breast Sparganosis was often initially suspected to be breast tumor. Case presentation: In the present report, a 65-year-old woman was admitted to the Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, China, because of a mass in her left breast. Breast ultrasonography showed multiple bands with low echo and uneven echo, and color doppler flow imaging showed no blood flow signal in the lesion. Therefore, the possibility of tumor was excluded and a preliminary diagnosis of Sparganosis was made. Subsequently, a lumpectomy was carried out and revealed a 30 cm worm. Then histopathological examination diagnosed this case was sparganosis and the worm was Sparganum proliferum . To further verify our diagnosis, the cytochrome oxidase subunit 1 ( COX1 ) gene was amplified by PCR, sequence analysis of PCR products made us sure that it was the Sparganum proliferum . Conclusion: We present Sparganosis could be preliminarily distinguished from breast tumor by ultrasonography, and then confirm Sparganosis by molecular biological methods, which provided a more efficient method for the detection of Sparganosis.