Clinico Histopathological Correlation in Leprosy

Introduction: Leprosy is a chronic, infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae. It is classified into five groups based on clinical, histological, microbiological and immunological criteria (Ridley & Jopling Classification). However a great variation is seen in interpretation of clinical and histopathological examination of these lesions. The present research was taken to study the correlations between the clinical and histological diagnosis and to evaluate the importance of skin biopsy as an important diagnostic and spectrum defining tool. Methodology: A retrospective Hospital-based study was conducted in patients of Leprosy, who attended Dermatology Out Patient Department for a period of 18 months. Clinical diagnosis was noted and the biopsies were processed as per standard protocol in the Department of Pathology. The clinical and histopathological concordance was calculated using percentage parity. Results & Conclusion: In a total of 50 cases, 28 (56%) males and 22 (44%) females .The histopathological diagnoses from our study showed agreement with clinical diagnoses in 25 (50%) cases. The maximum concordance of 80% was seen in LL cases followed by TT (57%), BT(53.33%), IDL (50%), BL (33.33%) and major discordance was observed in BB(14.29%) cases.