Comparison of Meglumine Antimoniate and Miltefosine in Cutaneous Leishmaniasis.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the efficacy and safety of meglumine antimoniate and miltefosine in the treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis in Pakistan. STUDY DESIGN: Randomised-controlled trial. Place and Duration of the Study: Department of Dermatology, Combined Military Hospital, Lahore and Peshawar, from January to December 2021. METHODOLOGY: Smear positive and/or skin biopsy-confirmed cases of cutaneous leishmaniasis in adult males aged between 18-60 years were enrolled after receiving informed consent. Patients were randomly divided into Group A and Group B by lottery method. Group A received intramuscular meglumine antimoniate 15-20mg/kg/day, and Group B received oral miltefosine 50 mg thrice a day for a duration of 28 days. Data were analysed by SPSS 22. Effectiveness and safety of therapeutic agents were calculated by Independent t-test and p-value of 0.05 or less was taken as significant. RESULTS: Sixty-six patients, 33 in each group, participated in the study. Total number of cutaneous leishmaniasis lesions were 77 in Group A and 76 in Group B. The duration of lesions was 3.5 months in Group A and 3.2 months in Group B. Treatment response, in terms of complete or near complete resolution of lesions, was significantly higher in Group A as compared to Group B (p = 0.011). Both therapeutic agents had considerable side-effects with more patients withdrawn from Group A as compared to Group B (p = 0.010). CONCLUSION: Intra-muscular meglumine antimoniate was more effective in comparison to oral miltefosine in the treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis. However, efficacy of meglumine antimoniate is mired by its side-effect profile. KEY WORDS: Cutaneous leishmaniasis, Meglumine antimoniate, Miltefosine, Efficacy, Side-effects, Adverse effects, Safety, Treatment, Old world cutaneous leishmaniasis.

Effectiveness of Autoinoculation in Patients with Multiple Warts Presenting at a Tertiary Care Hospital.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the effectiveness of autoinoculation in patients with multiple skin warts. STUDY DESIGN: A Quasi-experimental study. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY: Dermatology department of PNS Shifa Hospital, from April to October 2021. METHODOLOGY: Ninety-six patients with multiple warts were enrolled in this study after informed consent. Under strict aseptic measures and local anaesthesia, wart tissue was removed and crushed on a glass slide with the scalpel. Autoinoculation was done on flexor aspects of bilateral forearms after making a subcutaneous pocket which was then stitched. Patients were assessed at monthly intervals for 03 months and after 01 month of the last autoinoculation to see sustained response. Effectiveness was recorded according to ordinal scale; worsening of lesions/no response at <50% resolution/partial response at >50%- <100% resolution and complete response at 100% resolution. RESULTS: Complete response was observed in 88 (91.66%) of the cases, no response was observed in 2 (2.1%) cases where as 6 (6.3%) showed worsening. All patients were compliant with the follow-up. No new eruptions were observed. CONCLUSION: Autoinoculation is a minimally invasive and cost-effective procedure with excellent response to wart. It also decreases recurrence by generating viral-specific immunity. KEY WORDS: Viral warts, Autoinoculation, Multiple, Immunotherapy, Verrucous, Treatment, HPV, Resistant.

Comparison Of Oral Dapsone With Intramuscular Meglumine Antimoniate In Cutaneous Leishmaniasis.

BACKGROUND: Many drugs are effective are used as second line treatment for cutaneous leishmaniasis. Dapsone therapy is tolerated well and cost effective. The aim of present study is to determine the efficacy of oral dapsone in comparison with intramuscular meglumine antimoniate in patients with cutaneous leishmaniasis and thus find out an effective second line treatment agent. METHODS: This randomized controlled trial was carried out at dermatology department, of tertiary care centre Rawalpindi, Pakistan from November 2017 to June 2018. Hundred biopsy proven patients of cutaneous leishmaniasis completed the study with 50 patients in two group. Group A received intramuscular meglumine antimoniate (15 mg/kg/day). Group B received oral dapsone2.5 mg /kg/body weight /day (200 mg per day). Efficacy of therapeutic response was noted at the end of treatment. Data was analyzed with statistical analysis program (IBM-SPSS V22). Chi-square test was applied to compare efficacy, p value of ≤0.05 was significant. Stratification of data with respect to age, gender, duration of disease, number of lesions and weight was done to see their effect on treatment efficacy. Post stratification chi-square test for both groups was applied (p≤0.05 considered significant). RESULTS: A total of 100 participants took part in the study. Duration of treatment (p-value <0.001) and the efficacy of the drugs (p-value=0.020) were significant. Meglumine antimoniate therapy group displayed a comparatively fast-paced recovery in (21- 40 days) whereas Dapsone group showed better recovery in (41-60 days) in their lesions. CONCLUSIONS: Dapsone is an effective treatment for cutaneous Leishmaniasis.

Dermatology Life Quality Index In Patients Of Psoriasis And Its Correlation With Severity Of Disease.

BACKGROUND: Patient suffering from psoriasis can be severely affected in their day to day activities and it may also result in reduced work efficiency and absenteeism from work leading to financial burden on the patient's family. This study was conducted using Dermatology Life Quality Index to assess the quality of life of a patient suffering from psoriasis being treated at a military hospital. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted in the outpatient unit of Department of Dermatology, Combined Military Hospital Abbottabad from 1st October 2013 to 31stJune 2014. The demographic data and Dermatology Life Quality Index of patients of psoriasis were recorded using a standard questionnaire and their final score was calculated to assess the effect of disease on patient's life. Extent/ severity of disease were assessed according to the body surface area involved. The data was analysed using SPSS- 18. Mean and SD for numerical variables and frequencies and percentages for categorical were calculated. RESULTS: A total of 160 patients fulfilling the inclusion criteria were included in the study. Mean age of the patients was 40.48 years (±12.58 years) with minimum age of 18 years and maximum of 74 years. 118 patients were males were (73.8%) and 42 were females (26.2%). Twenty (12.5%) patients had no effect on their life by the disease while 5 (3.1%) had extremely large effect. Most patients, i.e., 68 (42.5%) had moderate effect on their lives. 69 patients had mild psoriasis as per body surface area involved, 70 had moderate disease and 21 had severe disease. CONCLUSIONS: Psoriasis affects quality of life of patients not only physically but also psychologically and financially even when patients are under treatment. Psychological aspects also need to be addressed while treating the physical morbidity.

Comparison of Intralesional Meglumine Antimonite along with oral Itraconazole to Intralesional Meglumine Antimonite in the treatment of Cutaneous Leishmaniasis.

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE: Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) is endemic in developing countries like Pakistan. Pentavalent antimonials are still drug of choice, despite being toxic and intolerable for patients. Second line treatments have been extensively studied but the results of their efficacy are conflicting. This, to our knowledge, will be the first study in this regard. Our objective was to determine if combination of oral itraconazole with intralesional (IL) meglumine antimoniate (MA) reduces the duration of treatment for cutaneous leishmaniasis, as compared to intralesional MA alone. METHODS: A randomized controlled trial (single blinded) was carried out from August 2017 till December 2017 on 69 patients who fulfilled inclusion criteria. They were assigned to Group-A or B by lottery method. Group-A patients received IL MA once a week while Group-B received oral itraconazole 200mg, once daily, for six weeks along with similar regimen of IL MA as Group-A. The patients were assessed every three weeks by the blinded assessor till clinical cure was achieved. A follow up visit, two months after clinical cure was done to look for relapse of the disease. RESULTS: Thirty patients in Group-A and 35 patients in Group-B completed the study. At 3, 6, 9 and 12 weeks the patients were assessed for: no, partial or complete response and results of the two groups were compared for statistical significance. The p-values of 0.20, 0.57 and 0.11 at 3, 6 and 9 weeks, respectively, depict that there was no significant difference at any step of assessment between the two groups in terms of healing. The p values of each t test was>0.05 refuting the hypothesis. CONCLUSION: Combination of oral itraconazole with intralesional MA offered no benefit over intralesional MA alone in the management of cutaneous leishmaniasis in terms of duration of therapy.

Safety and efficacy of miltefosine in cutaneous leishmaniasis: An open label, non-comparative study from Balochistan.

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE: Cutaneous Leishmaniasis (CL) is endemic in Baluchistan and treated traditionally with Meglumine antimoniate. Miltefosine appears appealing therapy in cutaneous Leishmaniasis. Our objective was to evaluate safety and efficacy of Miltifossine in treatment of cutaneous Leishmaniasis. METHODS: This experimental study was conducted from 10 September 2017 to 10 May 2018 at Combined Military Hospital Quetta. Total of 42 patients were recruited by purposive sampling technique. Lesional skin smears were stained with giemsa for Leishmania amastigotes under magnification (100 x).Complete blood count, serum urea, creatinine, bilirubin, aspartate aminotransferases (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) were done at the beginning of treatment and then weekly, thereafter. Cap Miltefosine 50 mg (2.5mg/kg) were given as directly observed therapy .Daily observation during treatment phase was done for clinical side effects of therapy. Clinical response was documented at two weeks then at eight weeks. Photographs were taken before and after the therapy. Data was analyzed by SPSS 16. RESULTS: Complete clinical response was observed in 39 (92.9%) patients and partial clinical response in 1(2.4%) patient. Two patients were lost to follow up at eight weeks. No significant derangements in laboratory profile were noted before and after treatment. Mean duration of treatment was 23.47+SD 4.44 days. Sixteen patients (38.1%) took Miltefosine for 28 days, 12 (28.6%) for 21 days and 9 (25%) for 25 days. CONCLUSION: Miltefosine is safe and cost effective treatment for cutaneous Leishmaniasis. It is effective in CL cases not susceptible to antimony compounds.

Exploring practices of Dermatologists in Ethical Dilemmas in Pakistan: A narrative analysis.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Specialists in dermatology come across ethical issues in their practice. The topic is subjective so dialogue and reflection is required. The main objective of this study was to explore how dermatologists deal with ethical dilemmas in their clinical practice. METHODS: This was a qualitative narrative analysis. It was conducted by involving dermatologists working in tertiary care hospitals across Pakistan from January to June 2017. Open ended semi structured in-depth interviews of twelve dermatologists were recorded and transcribed manually through transcribers verbatim. Thematic interactional analysis was done by NVivo 11. RESULTS: Ethical dilemmas were narrated. Thematic analysis showed that compromises in standard medical and ethical practices were made on academics and training. Ethics were left to individual choice. Consultation of patients suffered due to quality of patient physician relationships and breeched patient's confidentiality. In cosmetic dermatology unrestrained role of media, injudicious procedures and improper counseling created difficulties. Pharmaceuticals relation revolved around conflict of interest. In sexually transmitted diseases disclosure were difficult due to sociocultural limitations. In teledermatology practices patient's confidentiality and consent were compromised while consultation remained challenging for dermatologists being visual only. CONCLUSION: Dilemmas appearing in everyday life needs peer discussion, reflections and protocols that should be role modeled.

Orf with unusual features.

We describe a case of Orf in an immunocompetent man with no history of direct contact with farm animals. The patient presented with numerous large lesions on hands and feet including a lesion in the subungual area. Later on multiple lesions with more bizarre morphology developed on the trunk. The diagnosis was suspected on clinical appearance of the lesion and confirmed later by histopathology. We consider contact with contaminated soil as the possible source of infection as virus can survive in pastures. Awareness of unusual clinical patterns of known entities is important to avoid unnecessary interventions.

Kindler's syndrome: a report of five cases in a family.

Kindler's Syndrome (KS) is a rare genodermatosis with autosomal recessive mode of inheritance. The disease results from homozygous mutations on both alleles of the FERMT-1 gene (also known as KIND-1 gene) that encodes the protein Kindlin-1 (kindlerin). Clinical features include a constellation of early infantile skin blistering and mild photosensitivity, which improves with age, and progressive poikiloderma with widespread cutaneous atrophy. The differential diagnosis of Kindler syndrome include other congenital poikilodermatous and photosensitive conditions including Bloom syndrome, Cockayne syndrome, dyskeratosis congenita, epidermolysis bullosa, Rothmund-Thomson syndrome and xeroderma pigmentosum. We herein, report the presence of the Kindler's syndrome in 5 out of 7 children of consanguineous parents. To authors' knowledge, this is the first report of Kindler's syndrome involving 5 members of a family.

Langerhan cell histiocytosis: a child presenting with nine months history of fever.

We report a case of Langerhan Cell Histiocytosis in a three and a half years old child. The child presented with history of low grade fever, off and on for 9 months. There was 2 months history of progressive pallor and 5 days history of epistaxis. Blood complete picture revealed pancytopenia and the patient was referred to a paediatric oncologist. Initial diagnosis of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL), Lymphoma and disseminated Tuberculosis (TB) was made on basis of initial investigations. Coetaneous involvement occurred 7 months later along with Diabetes Insipidis, bone changes and pulmonary involvement.