To assess the burden of and trends of Hansens disease - Mainly by assessing the histomorphological spectrum and clinicopathological correlation, at a tertiary care hospital in Telangana State, India.

Context: Leprosy an important public health problem which needs to be addressed. Aims: We study the histopathological features of leprosy in skin biopsies and categorize them into various types based on microscopic features. Clinico pathological correlation was done in all cases. Materials and Methods: Skin biopsies after adequate fixation in 10% of formalin, were routinely processed and paraffin embedded sections of 5 μ thickness were stained with H and E and fite -faraco stain and were studied microscopically. Results: A total of 1200 skin biopsies were obtained from patients of skin department during a period of two years from May 2016 to May 2018,out of which 136 cases were clinically diagnosed as Hansens and among them 116 were confirmed as Hansens histologically . Among them - Lepromatous leprosy 61 cases,- Borderline lepromatous leprosy 18 cases, Tuberculoid leprosy-11 cases, Borderline tuberculoid leprosy- 19 cases and lepra reaction[ENL]-7 cases, rest 20 cases included indeterminate leprosy and other d/ds. With an age range of 11 -68 years, majority were in 2nd decade, with male to female ratio of 2.5:1. LL was the most common type of leprosy (%). Majority of biopsies were of multibacillary type (52.5%). Clinicopathological correlation was observed in all cases. Conclusions: For diagnosis, correlation of clinical and histopathological features along with special stain [fite faraco] appears to be more useful than considering any of the single parameters alone.