Leprosy Mailing List – May 16th, 2010
Ref.: Reactions after stopping Multi-drug Therapy
From: R Ganapati, V V Pai and M Shinde,
Dear Dr Noto,
We invite the attention of LML readers on the exchange of views on the role of clofazimine in preventing leprosy reactions after completion of fixed duration multi-drug therapy (FDT) with 24 and 12 months. An analysis on a large scale on the pattern of reactions in 2.307 leprosy patients attending Bombay Leprosy Project since 1981 is in progress.
We present our preliminary observations focused only on reactions after termination of treatment with FDT-24 months and FDT-12 months. Those who presented with reactions before treatment were excluded. The statistics relating to the reactions encountered during the course of treatment were not considered for this particular analysis, as the object was to see if there is an advantage of clofazimine, if administered for a longer period.
Reactions after termination of treatment
FDT- 24 Months
No. of pts | Reactions | |
No. | % | |
493 | 5 | 1.0 |
FDT- 12 Months
No. of pts | Reactions | |
No. | % | |
1757 | 60 | 3.4 |
The greater proportion of reactions in the group not receiving clofazimine for a longer period may be ascribable to the non-availability of the reaction-suppressing effect of this drug. Most of the reactions were observed within a year of stopping treatment.
Regards,
Dr R Ganapati, Dr VV Pai and Mahendra Shinde,
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