Neurolise em pacientes com hanseníase : um tratamento alternativo em neurite resistente a corticoterapia

Abstract

In Brazil, the prevalence of leprosy has been reduced in the last years. However, there are still many people living with disabilities, resulting from chronic leprosy neuritis. Oral corticosteroid therapy is the standard treatment of neuritis. In case of unsuccessful treatment, a surgery, the so-called neurolysis, or external decompression, may be indicated. Data about the effectiveness of neurolysis are scanty. To assess the degree of sensory and motor loss before and after neurolysis, we performed a retrospective study. Leprosy patients were included, that had received neurolysis of peripheral nerve trunks in the reference hospital of Rondônia State (North Brazil), between 2000 and 2003. Socio-demographic and clinical data were collected from the hospital’s registry of surgeries, from patients’ charts and from the Notifiable Diseases Database (“Sistema Nacional de Informação de Agravos de Notificação”). To assess the degree of sensory and motor deficiencies, we created an ordinal score based on the clinical evaluations. Of the 118 individuals included (in total 297 neurolyses), 74 (62,7%) were males. Ninety-six (81,4%) patients were classified clinically with borderline leprosy. Only (53,4%) of the patients were under multi-drug therapy at the moment of neurolysis. The median time between the first episode of neuritis and the surgery was one year (maximum = 12,3 years). The median of the score reduced from 5 to 3 (ulnar nerve), from 3 to 2 (median nerve) and from 9,5 to 7,5 (posterior tibial nerve; all p<0,001). Ninety % of patients with severe sensory deficiency before surgery presented with an improved score after neurolysis. In the multivariate analysis, only the sensitive score of the ulnar nerve (adjusted OR = 1,9; 95% CI: 1,38 – 2,65; p<0,001) and the sensitive score of the posterior tibial nerve (adjusted OR = 1,2; 95% CI: 1,02 – 1,39; p = 0,02) before surgery were factors increasing the chance of improvement. The clinical classification and the period between the first episode of neuritis and surgery did not modify the clinical result significantly. Similar to the sensory evaluation, the motor score of the ulnar and common peroneal nerves improved significantly after surgical intervention (ulnar nerve: p = 0,03; comnor peroneal nerve: p<0,001). Almost 60% of the patients operated on the common peroneal nerve presented more muscle strength. The data of the present study indicate that neurolysis is of important benefit in leprosy neuritis, even after a prolonged period of neuritis. Strategies need to be elaborated to improve the therapeutic options in the treatment of leprosy neuritis.