title: A clinico-pathological study of macular lesions in leprosy.
abstract: One hundred twenty histologically confirmed cases of leprosy having macular lesions were evaluated clinically and histopathologically according to Ridley-Jopling classification. Of these 120 cases, the majority (91 or 75.8%) were young adults. The main clinical findings were: a single macule in 42 patients (35%), multiple macules 2-5 in numbers in 35 patients (29.1%), 6-10 macules in 17 patients (14.1%) and more than 10 macules in 26 patients (21.6%). Impairment of sensation over the macular lesions was present in 62 cases (51.6%), total loss of sensation was noticed in 31 patients (25.8%) and sensation was intact in 27 patients (22.5%). Acid-fast bacilli were detected in 11 cases (9.1%) by slit-skin smear examination. Clinical examination of the 120 cases revealed features of TT in 16 (13.3%), BT in 41 (34.1%), BB in 11 (9.1%), BL in 13 (10.8%), LL in 7 (5.8%) and indeterminate leprosy (IL) in 32 patients (26.6%). On the contrary, histologically there were 22 cases of TT (18.3%), 38 cases of BT (31.6%), 8 (6.5%) BB, 10 BL (8.3%), 7 LL (5.8%) and 35 cases of IL (29.1%). Histopathological features were consistent with the clinical picture in 84 patients (70%).
authors.affiliation: Armed Forces Medical College and Command Hospital (SC), Pune.
authors.forename: P K
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Kar
authors.forename: P N
authors.initials: PN
authors.lastname: Arora
authors.forename: C V
authors.initials: CV
authors.lastname: Ramasastry
authors.forename: S K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Sayal
authors.forename: R S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Dhaka
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015441:Leprosy, Tuberculoid / Q000145:classification / Q000473:pathology*; D008297:Male; D012867:Skin / Q000473:pathology*