isoprodian and Leprosy--Borderline

In Paraguay, the National Leprosy/Tuberculosis Program is based on a combined chemotherapy with isoprodian and rifampicin. The aim of this descriptive study was to investigate the therapy durations used so far in the treatment of 475 leprosy patients and to analyze the criteria responsible for the wide-ranging differences in therapy durations. As initial criteria, the following parameters were identified to have a significant influence on the therapy duration: Patients never treated before or pretreated, clinical classification and initial bacteriological index (BI) value. During therapy, conditions like the attendance and BI decrease/year showed a significant correlation with the therapy duration. Even though the studied criteria did not allow to draw a definite conclusion with regard to an 'ideal' therapy duration, they proved to be reliable, as only 2 patients have relapsed so far.

Topics: Dapsone; Drug Combinations; Drug Therapy, Combination; Humans; Isoniazid; Isonicotinic Acids; Leprostatic Agents; Leprosy; Leprosy, Borderline; Leprosy, Lepromatous; Leprosy, Tuberculoid; Mycobacterium leprae; Paraguay; Patient Compliance; Prothionamide; Rifampin; Time Factors