Comparison of intralesional Glucantime alone with intralesional Glucantime and levamizole in cutaneous leishmaniasis

Background and aim: Cutaneous leishmaniasis is a common disease in the world and is an endemic disease in Iran. Highly variable results of systemic treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis with levamisole have been reported in literature so far. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and tolerability of levamisole as an adjuvant therapy with intralesional Glucantime.Materials and methods: Sixty patients with cutaneous leishmaniasis were included in this clinical trial. The patients were divided randomly in two groups. Thirty patients in group 1 received intralesional Glucantime along with placebo (vitamin B complex tablets, 1 tablet every 8 hours for 2 successive days per week) and 30 patients in group 2 received intralesional Glucantime plus levamisole 150 mg tablet every 8 hours in two successive days per week in adults and 3-5 mg/kg for children under 30 kg for 6 weeks.Results: The clinical response of combination therapy (78%) was significantly better then group 1 (64%), the difference was statistically significant (p<0.001). The difference in rate of re-epithelization between the two groups was also statistically significant (p<0.01).Conclusion: This study demonstrated that levamisole can he used as an adjuvant therapy in combination with intralesional Glucantime for the treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis.