HISTOPATHOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION AND CLINICAL CORRELATION OF 50 LEPROSY CASES FROM A TEACHING HOSPITAL, SÃO JOSÉ DO RIO PRETO, SÃO PAULO STATE, BRAZIL

Abstract

The classification of leprosy most used in clinical practice is that adapted by the Madrid Congress (1953), which contains the indeterminate, tuberculoid, borderline and lepromatous forms. Ridley & Jopling have proposed in 1996 a classification based on the immunological spectrum of the disease. Design of the study: Prevalence survey. Objective: To classify leprosy biopsies according to Ridley and Jopling classification and perform the clinicopathological correlation. Methodology: Fifty biopsy solicitations were reviewed and their slides stained by H&E and Ziehl-Neelsen methods were analyzed. Results: There were found: 9 indeterminate, 10 tuberculoid, 5 borderline tuberculoid, 5 borderline lepromatous, 5 subpolar lepromatous and 16 polar lepromatous forms. From 50 patients, 30 were male, and the multibacilar forms predominated in this gender. Leprosy diagnostic hypothesis was not formulated in 2 subjects and in 30 cases one or more forms were specified, with frequent disagreement between histopathological diagnostic and clinical hypothesis. Conclusions: The classification of leprosy requires attention to the histopathological criteria and correlation with patients. clinical and immunological information.