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FOLLOW-UP ASSESSMENT OF PATIENTS WITH PURE NEURAL LEPROSY IN A REFERENCE CENTER IN RIO DE JANEIRO—BRAZIL
Pacientes
Hanseníase Neural Pura
Centro de referência
Rio de Janeiro—Brasil
Author
Affilliation
Abstract
Introduction
Pure Neural Leprosy (PNL) is a rare clinical form of leprosy in which patients do not present
with the classical skin lesions but have a high burden of the disability associated with the disease.
Clinical characteristics and follow up of patients in PNL are still poorly described in the
literature.
Objective
This paper aims to describe the clinical, electrophysiological and histopathological characteristics
of PNL patients, as well as their evolution after multidrug therapy (MDT).
Methods
Fifty-two PNL patients were selected. Clinical, nerve conduction studies (NCS), histopathological
and anti-PGL-1serology were evaluated. Patients were also assessed monthly during
the MDT. At the end of the MDT, all of the patients had a new neurological examination
and 44 were submitted to another NCS.
Results
Paresthesia was the complaint most frequently reported by patients, and in the neurological
examination the most common pattern observed was impairment in sensory and motor
examination and a mononeuropathy multiplex. Painful nerve enlargement, a classical symptom
of leprosy neuropathy, was observed in a minority of patients and in the motor NCS axonal
injuries, alone or in combination with demyelinating features, were the most commonly
observed. 88% of the patients did not present any leprosy reaction during MDT. There was
no statistically significant difference between the neurological examinations, nor the NCS
pattern, performed before and after the MDT.
Keywords in Portuguese
AvaliaçãoPacientes
Hanseníase Neural Pura
Centro de referência
Rio de Janeiro—Brasil
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