Treatment of cutaneous Leishmaniasis with combination of Allopurinol and low dose of Meglumine Antimoniate

Cutaneous leishmaniasis is one of the most prevalent endemic disease in Isfahan which is also hyperendemic in other parts of Iran. Different treatments have been suggested for cutaneous leishmaniasis, however no definite treatment has been found. The most common treatment for cutaneous leishmaniasis is glucantim and pentostam, however these drugs have significant side effects and can only be used intravenously. Allopurinol is one of the oral medicines suggested for the treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis. The goal of this study is to determine the healing effect of Allopurinol with low doses of glucantim, on the treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis, and its comparison with the standard glucantim treatment regimen. In this open controlled study a total of 72 patients infected with cutaneous leishmaniasis were divided randomly into two groups. The first group consists of 36 subjects which were treated for 20 days with intravenous glucantim (60 mg/kg) and the second group (36 subjects) were treated simultaneously with glucantim (30 mg/kg) and Allopurinol tablets. The results were evaluated at the end of treatment period, one month and 3 months following the treatment. In the first group 74.2% and in the second group 80.6% of the patients responded well to the treatment with no recurrence of the disease. No significant difference was observed between the two groups (P=0.408). Significant side effects were not observed in either of the groups. Therefore based on this results, it can be concluded that with simultaneous treatment of Allopurinol glucantim, one may reduce the number of injections and the side effects of the drugs.