Case report

Intraneural injection of corticosteroids to treat nerve damage in leprosy: a case report and review of literature

Sherine G Nashed¹ , Tarek A Rageh² , Emad S Attallah-Wasif³ and Alaa A Abd-Elsayed⁴

¹  Assiut Dermatology and Leprosy Clinic, Assiut, Egypt

²  Neurology Department, Assiut University Hospital, Assiut, Egypt

³  Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL, USA

⁴  Public Health and Community Medicine Department, Faculty of Medicine, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt

author email corresponding author email

Journal of Medical Case Reports 2008, 2:381doi:10.1186/1752-1947-2-381

Published:	9 December 2008

Abstract

Introduction

Nerve damage in leprosy patients leads to deformities and disabilities. Oral corticosteroids are given early to prevent permanent injury. We present a new approach to treat well-established nerve damage with local injection of corticosteroids.

Case presentation

A 60-year-old leprosy patient presented with right claw hand deformity secondary to right ulnar and median neuropathy. Monthly intraneural injection of corticosteroids resulted in improvement in sensory and motor function of his right hand over a 6-month period. Nerve conduction velocity testing documented the success of our therapy.

Conclusion

We report the first case of successful nerve regeneration in neglected neuropathy secondary to leprosy after local injection of corticosteroids. Intraneural extra-fascicular injection of corticosteroids improved the sensory and motor nerve function in our patient with borderline leprosy regardless of the duration of nerve function loss.