Efficacy of itraconazole in the treatment of tinea versicolor.

Twenty adult patients (15 males and 5 females) with extensive, clinically diagnosed tinea versicolor (TV.) resistant to topical agents, of long duration were selected. Laboratory investigations like KOH smear, routine haemogram, LFT, and RFT were done. They were given itraconazole (100 mg) orally twice daily for 5-7 days and followed up at the end of 1 week and again three weeks later. After one week itching, erythema and scaling subsided in 80% of cases. There was no recurrence during one year follow up.

A clinico - histopathological outcome of 4 weeks methotrexate pluse therapy in psoriasis.

A clinico-histopathological study was carried out In 50 patients of psoriasis to see clinical and histological outcome and/or correlation of weekly methotrexate pulse therapy. Clinically, results of therapy were evalutated by estimating the percentage of total body coverage with psoriasis. Prior to therapy, average involvement was 47.5% which after 4 weeks methotrexate therapy reduced to 8. 3%. A complete clearing of psoriasis occurred in 40% of patients after methotrexate therapy. The clinical response started as early as I week in most of patients. Only 2 patients failed to respond even after 4 weeks of therapy. Histopathologically in pretreatmenl biopsy, 34 showed classical psoriatic pathology while in 16 biopsy was suggestive of psoriasis but not confirmative. Histopathological examination after 4 weeks treatment showed that 41 still showed one or more histological evidence of psoriasis, although only two patients had classical, psoriatic pathology, in rest 9 patients there were complete regression. Thus, with methotrexate, clinical clearance was much faster than histopathological clearance.

Thickening of peripheral nerves in neurofibromatosis.

A 14-year-old boy presented with multiple asymptomatic swellings all over the body. Cutaneous findings were classical for neurofibromatosis. Interesting and unusual finding was generalised thickening of peripheral nerve trunks. Biopsy from thickened nerve had features of neurofibromatosis.

Favus in a non-endemic area.

A typical case of favus of scalp in a 60-year-old female, resident of a village in district Udaipur (Rajasthan) is being reported for its rarity and occurrence in non-endemic zone. Some of the nails were also involved. Fungal hyphae were demonstrated in KOH examination from scalp and nails. Culture on Sabourauds agar medium grew Trichophyton violaceum.

Methotrexate : Side effects and the role of folic acid supplementation in psoriasis - A study.

In 50 patients of psoriasis, side effects observed with methotrexate pulse were studied. Folic acid ameliorated majority of the side effects without compromising with the therapeutic efficacy of methotrexate.

A piebald family.

Piebaldism is an uncommon congenital hypomelanotic disorder characterized by a white forelock and vitiligo like amelanotic macules. We report a family with piebaldism affecting four successive generations. The disease was present in 16 members of the family.

Serum zinc levels in subtypes of leprosy.

Serum zinc levels were estimated in 146 patients with different types of leprosy and 40 control subjects. Tuberculoid patients were found to have normal serum zinc levels. A gradual reduction in serum zinc levels was observed from TT to LL. Serum zinc levels were not significantly higher in patients treated with dapsone for approximately 18 months. The cause of hypozincemia is not clear, but the findings suggest that there are correlations among bacillary load, immune status, and serum zinc. Zinc deficiency could be one of the factors involved in the nonspecific suppression of cell-mediated immunity in lepromatous leprosy.

Oral zinc as an adjunct to dapsone in lepromatous leprosy.

Oral zinc was tried in 15 cases of multibacillary leprosy as an immunostimulant in addition to conventional antileprosy drugs. Results were compared with those in ten similar cases treated with dapsone alone. Cases treated with zinc showed faster clinical improvement, regrowth of eyebrows, rapid fall in the bacterial index (BI) and in the bacterial index in the granuloma (BIG), early and greater influx in lymphocytes in the granuloma, and neovascularization. Upgrading occurred in 6 out of 15 patients taking zinc, but in only 1 out of 10 patients in the control group. Five out of six patients who showed upgrading in the treated group became lepromin positive. Only one patient (BL) showed lepromin conversion in the control group.