Studies on Application of MRI in Angiostrongyliasis

Angiostrongylus cantonensis is the primary causative agent of human eosinophilic meningitis and eosinophilic menigoencephalitis in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Area. Angiostrongyliasis is also an important zoonosis in Taiwan. This parasite does not complete its developmental cycle in human and the inflammatory reaction provoked by the dead worms causes characteristic clinical manifestations. The diagnosis of this infection is mainly based on the clinical findings. Although an ELISA system has been developed for the diagnosis of human angiostrongyliasis, this technique requires skillful technicans as well as a special photometer to determine values of light absorbency. However, its results is only a presumptive diagnosis. Supportive and symptomatic treatments are the main streams in the management of this disease. In animal studies, a number of antihelminthics have been determined to be potent larvacides. It remains a controversy whether chemotherapy is suitable in the treatment of this infection, since dead worms may induce more sever pathogical changes in the brain of the patient. Clinically, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a well-established imaging modality for the evaluation of lesions in the central nervous system. Moreover, recent advances in magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) software and hardware enable MRS for clinical use. The wealth of imaging biochemical information provided by MRI/MRS makes it a useful and effective diagnostic tool to understand the disease process of the brain tissue. This research project is designed to apply the single-voxel proton MRS (1H-MRS) to measure cerebral metabolites in infected rabbits with A. cantonensis. These findings are then compared with the database of 1H-MRS in the control group. The aim of this study is to evaluate the imaging findings and changes of cerebral metabolites in the lesions caused by A. cantonensis. The results may provide information in the relationship in the MRI and biochemical changes caused by different sta ges of A. cantonensis larvae. In addition, development of a MRI system for the diagnosis and prognostic evaluation of human angiostrongyliasis, understanding the pathological changes in blood vessels, menineges, brain tissue caused by larvae of A. cantonensis, and assessment whether it is suitable to administer specific chemotherapy against the larvae are the final objectives of this project.

Project ID:PG8910-0523
External Project ID:NHRI-GT-EX89E908L