Leprosy
Mailing List, September 11th, 2008
Ref.: 20 weeks of
Prednisolone are better than 12 weeks in the treatment of reversal
reaction (RR)
From: Kar H. K.,
New Delhi
,
India
Dear Dr
Salvatore,
Thanks. I refer to Dr. Kawuma’s
message (LML, Sept. 8th, 2008) on
the treatment of reversal reaction (RR or Type 1 reaction). I agree with him. A short course of prednisolone
less than 12 weeks is not sufficient to control RR.
Irrespective of the spectrum of the disease, 5 to 6 months (or
even more) course of prednisolone is required to control RR along with
MDT. When the inflamed lesion of RR is on the face, it may
need more than 6 months of prednisolone therapy. You may need to
continue tapering dose of steroid few more weeks after the
patient has been released from treatment (RFT) to prevent late RR or
to treat late RR.
This is our experience.
Best regards.
Dr (Prof.) H K Kar
MD, MNAMS
Consultant & HOD
Department of Dermatology, STD & Leprosy
PGIMER, Dr Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital
Baba Kharag Singh Marg
New Delhi-110001
India
