Abstract:
Sodium stibogluconate (SSG, Pentostam) and meglumine antimoniate (MA, Glucantime) are two
antimonials that are widely used to treat cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL), but the relative efficacies
of these treatments are not clear. The aim of this study is to compare the efficacy of intralesional
SSG with intralesional MA therapy in the treatment of CL. One month after completion of the
therapy, 1431 of 1728 patients (82%) who received intralesional MA showed complete clinical
cure compared to 1157 of 1728 patients (67%) in the SSG group. Patients who did not respond to
the first round of therapy were re-administered the same treatment but with twice weekly
injections. Following completion of the second course of therapy, 237 of 297 patients (80%) in the
MA group and 407 of 561 patients (72%) in the SSG group healed their lesions by 1-month posttreatment. At both times, the differences in cure rates between MA and SSG groups were
statistically significant (p<0.05). Cure rates in the MA group were always significantly higher than
SSG groups irrespective of other parameters including age, gender, lesion site and type of lesion.
Intralesional MA is more effective than intralesional SSG in the treatment of CL.
