Two cases of pulmonary cysticercosis manifesting as pleural effusion: case report and literature review

Cysticercosis is an important public health problem in developing countries. The major involvement sites are the central nervous system and the eyes, although striated muscles and subcutaneous tissues are frequently involved in the disseminated form of disease. Pulmonary involvement in cysticercosis is very rare and ill-defined nodular shadows distributed throughout the lung is the usual radiological presentation. Only one case of cysticercosis presenting as lung cavity with pleural effusion has been reported so far in literature. We describe two cases in which pleural effusion due to cysticercosis were detected on chest X-ray and computed tomography (CT) scan.