Asher Ahmed Mashhood, Iqbal Khan, Shagufta Nazir.
Histopathological spectrum of cutaneous leishmaniasis in North West Frontier Province.
J Pak Assoc Derma Jan ;14(4):210-4.

Objectives: The objective of the study was to determine various histological spectrum of cutaneous leishmaniasis in NWFP and to detect if there were any other useful histological findings in addition to the detection of amastigotes, which could help in the diagnosis. Materials and methods: Total number of patients included in the study was 36. These patients were referred from various areas of NWFP. All except one were males. Their age ranged between 8-60 years. The duration of illness was from 3-32 weeks. A skin biopsy was performed from the most typical lesion from each patient. The biopsy slide was stained with H&E stain and viewed under a microscope by a single expert. The histopathological findings were noted in accordance to uniform criteria. Results: The confirmation of the diagnosis was done by the detection of amastigotes (LT bodies) in the slides. They were detected in 11 out of 36 patients (30.55%). The other most significant finding detected in all the slides was the presence of a mixed inflammatory cell infiltrate in the superficial dermis. Conclusion: It is concluded that the chances of picking up of amastigotes in the biopsy slides in not high. Hence, the presence of dense mixed inflammatory cell infiltrate in superficial dermis must be considered as a diagnostic feature in the absence of LT bodies.

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