Lucio's phenomenon: A systematic literature review of definition, clinical features, histopathogenesis and management.

Leprosy is a chronic disease with clinical presentations according to the immunologic spectrum. Lepromatous form is the most advanced, with the highest transmissibility and risk of causing disabilities. Lucio's phenomenon is a rare manifestation among lepromatous patients with a rapid and severe evolution and high mortality. It is difficult to differentiate from ulcerative/necrotic erythema nodosum leprosum and has no consensus on how it should be treated. This article is a qualitative review of the literature after the introduction of multidrug therapy, aiming to bring consensus related to the clinical, laboratory and histopathological diagnostic criteria of the disease and its management.

Experimental models and methods for cutaneous wound healing assessment.

Wound healing studies are intricate, mainly because of the multifaceted nature of the wound environment and the complexity of the healing process, which integrates a variety of cells and repair phases, including inflammation, proliferation, reepithelialization and remodelling. There are a variety of possible preclinical models, such as in mice, rabbits and pigs, which can be used to mimic acute or impaired for example, diabetic and nutrition-related wounds. These can be induced by many different techniques, with excision or incision being the most common. After determining a suitable model for a study, investigators need to select appropriate and reproducible methods that will allow the monitoring of the wound progression over time. The assessment can be performed by non-invasive protocols such as wound tracing, photographic documentation (including image analysis), biophysical techniques and/or by invasive protocols that will require wound biopsies. In this article, we provide an overview of some of the most often needed and used: (a) preclinical/animal models including incisional, excisional, burn and impaired wounds; (b) methods to evaluate the healing progression such as wound healing rate, wound analysis by image, biophysical assessment, histopathological, immunological and biochemical assays. The aim is to help researchers during the design and execution of their wound healing studies.