LUCIOS PHENOMENON - COMPARATIVE HISTOLOGICAL STUDY

  • 1 January 1979
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 47  (2) , 161-166
Abstract
To study further the pathogenesis of Lucio''s phenomenon, 11 patients with Lucio''s phenomenon and 12 with ENL [erythema nodosum leprosum] were histologically compared. Lucio''s reaction could be distinguished from ENL by epidermal necrosis and by necrotizing vasculitis manifesting necrosis in the walls of superficial vessels and severe, focal endothelial proliferation of mid-dermal vessels. In Lucio''s phenomenon large numbers of AFB [acid-fast bacilli] were found in evidently normal and in swollen or proliferating endothelial cells. Patients with Lucio''s phenomenon may have an exceptionally deficient defense mechanism, allowing unrestricted proliferation of AFB in endothelial cells, facilitating contact between bacterial antigen and circulating antibody and leading to infarction; this nadir of resistance allows unimpeded dissemination of AFB, accounting for the clinical features of diffuse non-nodular leprosy. An explanation is offered for the restriction of Lucio''s phenomenon to patients with diffuse non-nodular lepromatous leprosy.

This publication has 1 reference indexed in Scilit: