ASSESSMENT OF THE EFFECTS OF TREATMENT OF 2 ALBENDAZOLE AND PRAZIQUANTEL PROGRAMS IN PATIENTS WITH PORK TAPEWORM LARVAL DISEASE INFECTION IN THE BRAIN (2017 – 2020)

Truong H. Nguyen, Thang T. Tran, Duong T. Tran* and Loi B. Cao

The study treated 120 patients infected with tapeworm larvae with albendazole and praziquantel (60 patients each group), the results showed that:
- Clinical treatment effect: After 6 months of treatment, the main clinical symptoms such as headache, convulsions, myoclonus... were significantly improved, only 25% in the albendazole and 21 treatment groups. 7% of the praziquantel group still had headaches; However, the level of headache decreased markedly. There were no more patients with seizures, the number of myoclonus accounted for 5.0% in the albendazole group and 3.3% in the praziquantel group.
- Clinical efficacy after treatment: the percentage of patients who had no clinical symptoms of albendazole was 65% and praziquantel was 73.3%. The proportion of patients with clinical symptom reduction in the albendazol regimen 35% and praziquantel 26.7%, The therapeutic effect of albendazole dose 20mg/kg/24 hours x 20 days x 3 times and praziquantel dose 30mg/kg/24 hours x 15 days x 3 episodes, 1 month apart in patients infected with brain tapeworm larvae are similar.
- Effective treatment on cysts as determined by MRI:
+ Patients with a small number of cysts in the brain (1 cyst) had a high rate of cyst clearance of 66.6% with albendazole and 75% with praziquantel, patients with many cysts were less effective.
+ All cysts in stage 1 and 2 are responding well to treatment, after treatment there are no cysts in stage 1 and 2 or cysts have changed to stage 3, 4, 5 with both albendazole and praziquantel .
+ The percentage of patients who lost their cysts after treatment with albendazole was 51.7%, and praziquantel was 66.7%. The rate of patients with cyst reduction after treatment with albendazole was 48.3% and praziquantel was 31.7%.
- General therapeutic effect:
After 6 months of treatment, clinical results and MRI images with albendazole regimen were 38.3%, disease reduction was 61.7%. With the praziquantel regimen: the cure rate was 53.3%, the disease reduction was 45%. The overall therapeutic effect of albendazole and praziquantel is similar.