Point-of-care ultrasound of peripheral nerves in the diagnosis of Hansen's disease neuropathy.

Introduction: Hansen's disease (HD) is the most common cause of treatable peripheral neuropathy in the world that may or may not involve skin manifestations, and physical examination based on simplified neurologic evaluation is a subjective and inaccurate procedure. High-resolution ultrasound (HRUS) can be used to evaluate peripheral nerves and is a validated technique of good reproducibility, permitting a detailed and precise examination. Objectives: We proposed to establish objective criteria for absolute values of the measurement of the CSA of peripheral nerves and their indices of the ΔCSA and ΔTpT in the diagnosis of Hansen's disease neuropathy as compared with healthy voluntaries. Materials and methods: In municipalities from different regions of Brazil, we randomly selected 234 volunteer Brazilian patients diagnosed with leprosy to be submitted to peripheral nerve echography and compared with 49 healthy Brazilian volunteers. Results: Hansen Disease assessed by high resolution ultrasound is a primarily neural disease that leads to multiple hypertrophic mononeuropathy characterized by CSA values exceeding normal limits (Med CT = 10.2 mm2; UT = 9.8 mm2; UPT = 9.3 mm2; CFFH = 18.3 mm2; T = 9.6 mm2), and the pattern of asymmetry (ΔCSA>2.5 mm2 with RR 13) and focality (ΔTPT > 2.5 mm2 with RR 6.4) of this thickening has higher sensitivity (76,1%) and specificity (87,8 %) for its early diagnosis that laboratory tests. Analyzing each subject, the percentage of thickened nerves detected among the total number of nerves assessed was higher among patients with HD than among healthy individuals (p < 0.0001). Individuals with two or more thickened nerves were at 24.1 times higher relative risk (95% CI: 6.74-88.98) of HD.

Evaluation of altered patterns of tactile sensation in the diagnosis and monitoring of leprosy using the Semmes-Weinstein monofilaments.

BACKGROUND: Leprosy neuropathy is the most common peripheral neuropathy of infectious etiology worldwide; it is characterized as asymmetric and focal multiple mononeuropathy. Semmes-Weinstein monofilament (SWM) test is a simple method to assess sensory nerve function. METHODS AND FINDINGS: In this prospective cohort study, a dermatologist carried out hands and feet tactile sensation test with SWM in 107 multibacillary leprosy patients at diagnosis and in 76 patients at the end of treatment from 2016 to 2019. At diagnosis, 81/107 (75.7%) patients had some degree of functional disability, and 46 (43%) of them had altered SWM-test in the hands and 94 (87.9%) of them in the feet. After one year of multibacillary multidrug therapy, the disability decreasing to 44/76 patients (57.9%) and decreasing of the percentual of patients with altered SWM-test to 18% for the hands, and to 28.7% for the feet. At the end of treatment, the number of SMW-test points presented improvement in the hands of 22 (28.9%) patients, and in the feet of 47 (61.8%). In the hands, by SWM-test, only the radial nerve point demonstrated a significant asymmetry, while in the feet, the difference between the sum of altered SWM-test points showed significant asymmetry between both sides, highlighting the tibial nerve for the establishment of asymmetric leprosy neuropathy. In Spearman's correlation analysis, a positive correlation with statistical significance was observed between the number of hands and feet SWM altered points at diagnosis and the degree of disability at diagnosis (0.69) and at the end of the treatment (0.80). CONCLUSION: The patterns of hands and feet tactile sensation at diagnosis and their consequent modifications with the anti-leprosy drugs define the bacterial etiology of neuropathy, an important tool for the clinical diagnosis and follow up of the disease, highlighting the tibial nerve findings, the most affected nerve among leprosy patients by SWM-test, with significant asymmetry and focality impairments.

Silent peripheral neuropathy determined by high-resolution ultrasound among contacts of patients with Hansen's disease.

Introduction: Hansen's disease (HD) primarily infects peripheral nerves, with patients without HD being free of peripheral nerve damage. Household contacts (HHCs) of patients with HD are at a 5-10 times higher risk of HD than the general population. Neural thickening is one of the three cardinal signs that define a case of HD according to WHO guidelines, exclusively considering palpation examination that is subjective and may not detect the condition in the earliest cases even when performed by well-trained professionals. High-resolution ultrasound (HRUS) can evaluate most peripheral nerves, a validated technique with good reproducibility allowing detailed and accurate examination. Objective: This study aimed to use the peripheral nerve HRUS test according to the HD protocol as a diagnostic method for neuropathy comparing HHCs with healthy volunteers (HVs) and patients with HD. Methods: In municipalities from 14 different areas of Brazil we selected at random 83 HHC of MB-patients to be submitted to peripheral nerve ultrasound and compared to 49 HVs and 176 HD-patients. Results: Household contacts assessed by HRUS showed higher median and mean absolute peripheral nerve cross-sectional area (CSA) values and greater asymmetries (ΔCSA) compared to HVs at the same points. Median and mean absolute peripheral nerve CSA values were higher in patients with HD compared to HCCs at almost all points, while ΔCSA values were equal at all points. Mean ± SD focality (ΔTpT) values for HHCs and patients with HD, respectively, were 2.7 ± 2.2/2.6 ± 2.2 for the median nerve, 2.9 ± 2.7/3.3 ± 2.9 for the common fibular nerve (p > 0.05), and 1.3 ± 1.3/2.2 ± 3.9 for the ulnar nerve (p < 0.0001). Discussion: Considering HRUS findings for HHCs, asymmetric multiple mononeuropathy signs (thickening or asymmetry) in at least 20% of the nerves evaluated could already indicates evidence of HD neuropathy. Thus, if more nerve points are assessed in HHCs (14 instead of 10), the contacts become more like patients with HD according to nerve thickening determined by HRUS, which should be a cutting-edge tool for an early diagnosis of leprosy cases.

Leprosy case series in the emergency room: A warning sign for a challenging diagnosis.

Leprosy can be considered a dissimulated disease, mainly when presented as atypical cases leading to mistaken diagnosis at the emergency setting. Herein we report six patients referred to the emergence room with hypotheses of acute myocardial infarction and arterial and venous thrombosis, although with chronic neurological symptoms; the seventh patient was referred with a wrong suspicion of infected skin ulcer. Positive findings included hypo-anesthetic skin lesions and thickened nerves; 100% were negative for IgM anti-phenolic glycolipid-I, while 71.4%, 100% and 42.8% were positive for IgA, IgM and IgG Mce1A. RLEP-PCR was positive in all patients. Ultrasound of peripheral nerves showed asymmetric and focal multiple mononeuropathy for all patients. Unfortunately, in many patients leprosy is often misdiagnosed as other medical conditions for long periods thus delaying initiation of specific treatment. This paper is intended to increase physicians' awareness to recognize leprosy cases presented as both classical and unusual forms, including in emergency department.

Innovative tracking, active search and follow-up strategies for new leprosy cases in the female prison population.

BACKGROUND: Regarding the leprosy transmission through the upper airways, overcrowded locations such as prisons can become a risk to get sick. Like the leprosy hidden endemic demonstrated in male prison population, being interesting to assess the leprosy scene also among confined women. METHODS: A prospective descriptive study conducted at Female Penitentiary, Brazil. Leprosy Suspicion Questionnaire (LSQ) were applied to the participants, and submitted to specialized dermatoneurological exam, peripheral nerve ultrasonography, and anti-PGL-I serology. FINDINGS: 404 female inmates were evaluated, 14 new cases were diagnosed (LG-leprosy group), a new case detection rate (NCDR) of 3.4%, 13 multibacillary, while another 390 constituted the Non-Leprosy group (NLG). Leprosy cases were followed up during multidrug therapy with clinical improvement. The confinement time median was 31 months in LG, similar to NLG, less than the time of leprosy incubation. Regarding LSQ, the neurological symptoms reached the highest x2 values as Q1-numbness (5.6), Q3-anesthetizes areas in the skin (7.5), Q5-Stinging sensation (5.8), and Q7-pain in the nerves (34.7), while Q4-spots on the skin was 4.94. When more than one question were marked in the LSQ means a 12.8-fold higher to have the disease than a subject who marked only one or none. The high 34% rate of anti-PGL-I seropositivity in the penitentiary, higher levels in LG than NLG. Three additional leprosy cases each were diagnosed on the second (n = 66) and third (n = 14) reevaluations 18 and 36 months after the initial one. Semmes-Weinstein monofilaments demonstrated lower limbs (32.2%) more affected than the upper limbs (25%) with improvement during the follow-up. INTERPRETATION: The NCDR in this population showed an hidden endemic of leprosy as well as the efficacy of a search action on the part of a specialized team with the aid of the LSQ and anti-PGL-I serology as an auxiliary tracking tools.

Active search strategies, clinicoimmunobiological determinants and training for implementation research confirm hidden endemic leprosy in inner São Paulo, Brazil.

BACKGROUND: This study evaluates implementation strategies for leprosy diagnosis based on responses to a Leprosy Suspicion Questionnaire (LSQ), and analyzes immunoepidemiological aspects and follow-up of individuals living in a presumptively nonendemic area in Brazil. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Quasi-experimental study based on LSQ throughout Jardinópolis town by community health agents, theoretical-practical trainings for primary care teams, dermatoneurological examination, anti-PGL-I serology, RLEP-PCR, and spatial epidemiology. A Leprosy Group (LG, n = 64) and Non-Leprosy Group (NLG, n = 415) were established. Overall, 3,241 LSQs were distributed; 1,054 (32.5%) LSQ were positive for signs/symptoms (LSQ+). Among LSQ+ respondents, Q2-Tingling (pricking)? (11.8%); Q4-Spots on the skin? (11.7%); Q7-Pain in the nerves? (11.6%); Q1-Numbness in your hands and/or feet? (10.7%) and Q8-Swelling of hands and feet? (8.5%) were most frequently reported symptoms. We evaluated 479 (14.8%) individuals and diagnosed 64 new cases, a general new case detection rate (NCDR) of 13.4%; 60 were among 300 LSQ+ (NCDR-20%), while 4 were among 179 LSQ negative (NCDR-2.23%). In LG, Q7(65%), Q2(60%), Q1(45%), Q4(40%) and Q8(25%) were most frequent. All 2x2 crossings of these 5 questions showed a relative risk for leprosy ranging from 3 to 5.8 compared with NLG. All patients were multibacillary and presented hypochromatic macules with loss of sensation. LG anti-PGL-I titers were higher than NLG, while 8.9% were positive for RLEP-PCR. The leprosy cases and anti-PGL-I spatial mappings demonstrated the disease spread across the town. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Implementation actions, primarily LSQ administration focused on neurological symptoms, indicate hidden endemic leprosy in a nonendemic Brazilian state.

Leprosy case series in the emergency room: A warning sign for a challenging diagnosis

ABSTRACT Leprosy can be considered a dissimulated disease, mainly when presented as atypical cases leading to mistaken diagnosis at the emergency setting. Herein we report six patients referred to the emergence room with hypotheses of acute myocardial infarction and arterial and venous thrombosis, although with chronic neurological symptoms; the seventh patient was referred with a wrong suspicion of infected skin ulcer. Positive findings included hypo-anesthetic skin lesions and thickened nerves; 100% were negative for IgM anti-phenolic glycolipid-I, while 71.4%, 100% and 42.8% were positive for IgA, IgM and IgG Mce1A. RLEP-PCR was positive in all patients. Ultrasound of peripheral nerves showed asymmetric and focal multiple mononeuropathy for all patients. Unfortunately, in many patients leprosy is often misdiagnosed as other medical conditions for long periods thus delaying initiation of specific treatment. This paper is intended to increase physicians' awareness to recognize leprosy cases presented as both classical and unusual forms, including in emergency department.

Leprosy in a prison population: A new active search strategy and a prospective clinical analysis.

BACKGROUND: This study evaluates an active search strategy for leprosy diagnosis based on responses to a Leprosy Suspicion Questionnaire (LSQ), and analyzing the clinical, immunoepidemiological and follow-up aspects for individuals living in a prison population. METHODS: A cross-sectional study based on a questionnaire posing 14 questions about leprosy symptoms and signs that was distributed to 1,400 prisoners. This was followed by dermatoneurological examination, anti-PGL-I serology and RLEP-PCR. Those without leprosy were placed in the Non-leprosy Group (NLG, n = 1,216) and those diagnosed with clinical symptoms of leprosy were placed in the Leprosy Group (LG, n = 34). FINDINGS: In total, 896 LSQ were returned (64%), and 187 (20.9%) of the responses were deemed as positive for signs/symptoms, answering 2.7 questions on average. Clinically, 1,250 (89.3%) of the prisoners were evaluated resulting in the diagnosis of 34 new cases (LG), based on well-accepted clinical signs and symptoms, a new case detection rate of 2.7% within this population, while the NLG were comprised of 1,216 individuals. The confinement time medians were 39 months in the LG while it was 36 months in the NLG (p>0.05). The 31 leprosy cases who responded to the questionnaire (LSQ+) had an average of 1.5 responses. The symptoms "anesthetized skin area" and "pain in nerves" were most commonly mentioned in the LG while "tingling, numbness in the hands/feet", "sensation of pricks and needles", "pain in nerves" and "spots on the skin" responses were found in more than 30% of questionnaires in the NLG. Clinically, 88.2% had dysesthetic macular skin lesions and 97.1% presented some peripheral nerve impairment, 71.9% with some degree of disability. All cases were multibacillary, confirming a late diagnosis. Anti-PGL-I results in the LG were higher than in the NLG (p<0.0001), while the RLEP-PCR was positive in 11.8% of the patients. INTERPRETATION: Our findings within the penitentiary demonstrated a hidden prevalence of leprosy, although the individuals diagnosed were likely infected while living in their former communities and not as a result of exposure in the prison. The LSQ proved to be an important screening tool to help identify leprosy cases in prisons.