2-5 years follow-up of patients with erythema nodosum Leprosum undergoing Thalidomide 100mg/day for six months.

• Grant number: 14/01307-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: June 01, 2014
• End date: May 31, 2016
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Medicine
• Principal Investigator: Joel Carlos Lastoria
• Grantee: Lucas Coser Giraldelli
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina (FMB). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Botucatu. Botucatu , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Leprosy is a chronic , slowly progressive disease. However , this course may be interrupted by acute phenomenanamed reactions . Such reactions are classified as type 1 and type 2 reactions . While the type 1 reaction is more common in formstuberculoid and borderline disease and relates to cellular immunity , type 2 reaction, also called erythema nodosum Leprosum( ENL ) , affects more patients approaching the lepromatous pole and depends on the humoral immunity. This is characterized by thesudden appearance of the skin papules , erythematous plaques , erythematous and painful hard lumps all over his body , as well as demonstrations that seriously weaken the patient such as intensely destructive and painful neuritis , fever , arthralgia , iridocyclitis , orchiepididymitis , loss of appetite ,among others , remain, in general , until the beginning of specific therapy . Apart from very prevalent , occurring in 50 % to 70 % inlepromatous patients manner, ENL is, for this and other reasons , a major cause of neural injury with important consequences and,therefore, will be the focus of this work.