RESUMO
Neste artigo é realizada uma discussão sobre a hanseníase, relevante doença infecciosa no mundo, com importância marcante nas áreas tropicais. Procurou-se enfatizar os aspectos clínicos e imunopatogênicos, como forma de se proporcionar um melhor panorama do estado atual do problema
Assuntos
Humanos , Hanseníase/classificação , Hanseníase/fisiopatologia , Hanseníase/terapia , Mycobacterium leprae , Hanseníase Dimorfa/fisiopatologia , Hanseníase Tuberculoide/fisiopatologia , Hanseníase Virchowiana/fisiopatologia , Hansenostáticos/farmacocinética , Hansenostáticos/uso terapêuticoRESUMO
There are very few autopsy studies available on systemic distribution of clofazimine, a drug with anti-mycobacterial activity, used in multidrug therapy (MDT) regimen of leprosy and in erythema nodosum leprosum (ENL). An autopsy study was done on a 45 year old female of lepromatous leprosy (LL) on MDT and long term high dosage of clofazimine. Patient succumbed to intractable abdominal pain, diarrhoea, hypokalemia following clofazimine treatment. Autopsy study revealed yellowish brown discoloration of skin, viscera and body fluids. Chemical extraction of the drug revealed the highest concentration of the drug in jejunum (1.5mg/gm),followed by spleen (1.2mg/gm), pancreas (0.4mg/gm), adrenal (0.25mg/gm), liver (0.21mg/gm), and less than 0.2mg/gm in lung, fat, large intestine and stomach. It can be inferred from the present study that the drug is absorbed from the jejunum and gets deposited in fat, reticulo-endothelial cells (R-E cells) and hepatocytes. The drug is best demonstrated in cryostat sections and is lost partly during tissue processing and staining. The drug toxicity can be fatal as seen in the present case.