Open AccessTransepidermal elimination of lepromatous granuloma: a mechanism for mass transport of viable bacilli
Author(s) -
Masako Namisato,
Mie Kakuta,
Kunio Kawatsu,
Akiko Obara,
S. Izumi,
Hideoki Ogawa
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
leprosy review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.437
H-Index - 43
eISSN - 2162-8807
pISSN - 0305-7518
DOI - 10.5935/0305-7518.19970023
Subject(s) - medicine , lepromatous leprosy , infiltration (hvac) , mycobacterium leprae , granuloma , leprosy , pathology , chemotherapy , dermatology , surgery , physics , thermodynamics
A 35-year-old male with lepromatous leprosy showed significant progression of the disease on initial examination. Along with typical lepromatous skin lesions, many scar-forming lesions were present, mainly on his extremities. Some lesions showed erosive surfaces. From clinicopathological findings, these lesions were suspected to be due to the partial excretion of intradermal lepromatous granulomata by 'transepidermal elimination'. Increased local volume, which might be due mainly to rapidly growing lepromatous infiltration before chemotherapy, is suspected of triggering this phenomenon. There is no doubt that many fresh Mycobacterium leprae were included in these excretions. After the initiation of chemotherapy, no new scar-forming lesions were observed.