[Leprosy surgery: retrospective study in Madagascar]. / La chirurgie de la lèpre: étude rétrospective à Madagascar.

ABSTRACT

Leprosy is endemic in Madagascar and the diagnosis of leprosy is still done lately. Thus, many patients suffer from multiple and/or severe disabilities. Since a long time, many leprologists argue that surgery is necessary and useful in the treatment of these disabilities. We report the results of a retrospective study done in 25 patients reevaluated 2 to 7 years after surgery. Of these patients 17 patients (68%) have success, 7 patients (28%) have a partial improvement and only 1 case (4%) had no benefit. These results are encouraging and suggest that surgery must be proposed more often to treat in leprosy disabilities.