Comparative Effect of Topical Trichloroacetic Acid and Intralesional Meglumine Antimoniate in the Treatment of Acute Cutaneous Leishmaniasis Publisher



Nilforoushzadeh MA¹ ; Jaffary F² ; Reiszadeh MR¹ Show Affiliations
Source: International Journal of Pharmacology Published:2006

Abstract

Cutaneous Leishmaniasis (CL) is a prevalent parasitic disease throughout the world. Pentavalent antimonials, including Meglumine Antimoniate (MA) are the first line treatment of CL, yet treatment failures are increasingly common in many endemic areas and new treatment modalities are seeked. Trichloroacetic Acid (TCA) peeling has been effective for the treatment of some cutaneous problems including photodamaged skin with potential induction of collagen synthesis. This study was designed to evaluate the effect of topical TCA in the treatment of CL compared to intralesional MA. Eighty patients between 5-75 years were recruited with 7 patients dropping during the treatment course. In TCA group, 38 patients were treated three times (every 2 weeks) using TCA 50% and 35 patients received intralesional MA, weekly up to healing/or maximum 6 weeks. After six weeks, 26 patients (68%) in TCA group and 23 (65.7%) patients in MA group had complete clinical cure. There were 8 patients (21%) with partial cure in TCA group and 7 (20%) in the MA group; and 4 versus 5 patients showed no response after six- week treatment in each group, respectively. There was not any significant difference in clinical efficacy between TCA and MA groups. The same efficacy of TCA peeling, as a topical approach with the effect of intralesional MA shown during this pilot study, could potentially be promising in the treatment plan of CL. © 2006 Asian Network for Scientific Information.