02039nas a2200277   4500000000100000008004100001260001300042653001100055653002300066653001200089653002400101653002500125653002200150653002400172653000900196100001100205700001200216700001300228700001400241245009900255856004100354300001100395490000700406520133400413022001401747       2000                            d  c2000 Jun10aBiopsy10aLeprostatic Agents10aleprosy10aLeprosy, Borderline10aLeprosy, lepromatous10aPeripheral nerves10aProspective Studies10aSkin1 aJain M1 aSingh N1 aBhatia A1 aArora V K00aHistological assessment of dermal nerve damage occurring during multidrug therapy for leprosy.  uhttp://ila.ilsl.br/pdfs/v68n2a07.pdf  a167-710 v683 a<p>This is a prospective histomorphological assessment of dermal innervation in biopsies taken before and after multidrug therapy (MDT) from 41 leprosy patients: 35 borderline tuberculoid (BT), 3 borderline lepromatous (BL), 3 lepromatous (LL). Biopsies of the same lesions taken before commencement (diagnostic therapy) and at the end of therapy (check biopsy) were compared. Hematoxylin and eosin, immunoperoxidase stain for S-100 protein, and the Holmes' silver impregnation method for nerve cells and fibers were used. Skin biopsies were classified as having detectable or undetectable nerves. Of 35 patients with BT leprosy, 17 had no detectable nerves in their diagnostic biopsies; in the check biopsies of 13 of these 17, dermal nerves remained undetectable, in 2 they were S-100 positive but were Holmes negative. Identifiable dermal nerves were present in diagnostic biopsies from 18 patients; in the check biopsies 5 of these 18 had no detectable nerves while in the remaining 13 nerve branches could be detected. The study provides histological documentation of complete damage to dermal innervation in 62.85% (22/35) of patients with BT leprosy, of which 14.28% (5/35) occurred during MDT. Of the patients with detectable dermal innervation at the onset of MDT, 27.7% (5/18) suffered continuing damage during MDT.</p>  a0148-916X