A HISTOPATHOLOGICAL STUDY OF LEPROSY ALONG WITH CLINICAL CORRELATION.

Background: Leprosy or Hansen’s disease is a chronic infectious disease that mainly affects skin and peripheral nerves. Histopathology and demonstration of lepra bacilli is an essential tool to supplement clinical examination and diagnosis for correct classification and therefore treatment of patients. Aim: To study histopathology of leprosy cases and identify histological types in patients in a tertiary care centre, Asram hospital in Eluru. Materials and Methods: 18 skin biopsies diagnosed as leprosy over a period of two years from January 2018 to December 2019 were studied. Haematoxylin-eosin and Fite-Faraco staining for demonstrating lepra bacilli were done. Results: Male to female ratio of patients was 4.5:1. Maximum number of cases was seen in the 3rd and fourth decades of life. The commonest histological type was borderline tuberculoid (5 cases, 28%) and indeterminate type, lepromatous type (3 cases, 16%); followed by tuberculoid leprosy and erythema nodosum leprosum (2 cases, 11%), the least common cases were of lepromatous leprosy to borderline tuberculoid leprosy (1cases, 6%). The most common site was upper limb (26%). All 3/18(24%) patients with affected nerves showed ulnar and auricular nerve involvement. Hypopigmented, anaesthetic plaque was the commonest clinical feature followed by erythematous lesions. All cases of borderline tuberculoid, borderline lepromatous, lepromatous, midboderline and indeterminate showed acid-fast bacilli on Fite stain. Tuberculoid cases showed well-formed granulomas, borderline tuberculoid type showed additional feature of giant cells and lepromatous types showed grenz zone and no granulomas. Conclusion: Histopathological examination is the gold standard for accurate diagnosis and typing of leprosy. It should be done in all leprosy cases presenting to the clinician.