Estudo da microcirculação na hanseníase usando videomicroscopia (Microscan®) e laser-Doppler associado à iontoforese: um modelo de disautonomia vascular por denervação

Abstract

Leprosy is an infectious disease with unique features, among them the fact that it compromises not only the cutaneous and anexial innervation, but also the innervation of the cutaneous microcirculation. Several articles indicate the impact of disautonomy on the microcirculatory level, citing the example of changes in vasomotor level. The present study proposes to evaluate the microvascular reactivity of the cutaneous microcirculation of tuberculoid leprosy. Methods employed in the study were: the sidestream dark field imaging (Microscan®), the Fourier analysis of the laser Doppler signal to study vasomotion, and the laser Doppler flowmetry associated to iontophoresis of vasoactive substances (acetylcholine and sodium nitroprusside).Seven patients with tuberculoid leprosy, without any other comorbidity that could modify the microvascular parameters were evaluated and their results were compared with contralateral areas of healthy skin from the same patients.Regarding the vasomotion, statistical significant difference was noticed only in endothelial component, between groups. In the iontophoresis of vasoactive substances, it was not found differences between areas with and without lesions and controls. In the results obtained with the Microscan ® we have observed the greatest changes. The results suggest that, probably due to changes resulting from denervation of tuberculoid leprosy, these patients have significant quantitative change on vessels and also in the vascular reactivity of the cutaneous microcirculation.