Journal Article

Fourteen Days vs 28 Days of Albendazole Therapy for Neurocysticercosis in Children: An Open Label Randomized Controlled Trial

Dabla, Surekha, Kaushik, Jaya Shankar, Vaswani, Narain Das, Singla, Ankit, Lekhwani, Seema

2022

Overview

BackgroundThere is a paucity of literature to support 14-days albendazole therapy for neurocysticercosis (NCC).ObjectiveTo compare the efficacy of 14-day and 28-day albendazole therapy in the management of children with newly diagnosed active NCC.Study designOpen-labelled randomized controlled trialParticipantsChildren aged 1–14 years with newly diagnosed active neurocysticercosis.InterventionAlbendazole (15 mg/kg/day) for either 14 days or 28 days.OutcomeThe primary outcome measure was proportion of children with radiological resolution of active lesion at 6-month follow up. Secondary outcome measures were proportion of children with seizure recurrence, duration to seizure recurrence and calcification on follow up imaging.Results65 children with newly diagnosed NCC were randomized to receive albendazole therapy for 14 days (n=32) or 28 days (n=33). The proportion of children with complete resolution was comparable between the two groups [6 (18.8%) vs. 9 (27.3%); OR (95%CI):0.61 (0.19 to 1.98); P=0.56]. Similarly, proportion of children with seizure recurrence [5(15.6%) vs 2(6.1%); OR (95%CI): 2.87(0.51–16.0); P=0.26] and proportion of children with calcification on follow-up imaging [26(81.2%) vs 23(69.7%); OR (95%CI): 1.88 (0.59–5.99); P=0.39] were also comparable. There were no major side-effects noted during the study.Conclusion14-day treatment with albendazole therapy is as effective as 28-day treatment in achieving radiological resolution at six-month follow up. However, high rate of calcification in both the groups indicates need for further evaluation with an adequately powered study and longer follow up

• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
• Subject: Calcification / Clinical trials