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Background: Though leprosy has ceased to be a chronic disease, the impairments present at diagnosis or those which develop after diagnosis may have a lasting effect on the functioning of those who have been patients. This study is an attempt to clinically evaluate the orofacial lesions and deformities of treated leprosy patients, and see whether they have received any rehabilitation services. Methods: This was a hospital based cross sectional study conducted in a tertiary health care centre at Nagpur. All treated leprosy patients coming to the Out patients department of Skin and Venereal Diseases centre of the institute were examined and details regarding rehabilitation services received by them were inquired. Results: A total of 30 patients were studied of whom male and female were 15 each. Oro-facial lesions were seen in 20 patients of whom 11 were males and 9 were females. The most common lesion was in tongue (depappilated/fissured/deviated) in males and madarosis in females. Shrunken or erythematous uvula was the least common finding. Deformities of hands and feet were more common in females while deformity of eyes was more common in males. Utilization of rehabilitative services was very poor. Conclusions: It can be concluded from the results that leprosy as a disease is being treated successfully but the Oro-facial lesions and deformities are significant and utilization of rehabilitation is poor.

Background: We profiled the patients of acquired oesophageal strictures coming to our hospital in terms of causes, clinical presentation, efficacy of investigations and treatment modalities.Methods: In this two-year observational study, all patients presenting with complaint of difficulty in swallowing were enrolled and subjected to detailed history taking, examination, barium swallow study and other investigations. The patients were managed with surgical and/or non-surgical approaches, as indicated.Results: Out of total 46 eligible patients, 34 presented with malignant strictures while 12 presented with benign ones. Dysphagia was the commonest symptom in patients with malignant (31, 91.17%) as well as benign strictures (12, 100%). Shouldering with hold up of barium (19, 55.88%) was the most common finding noted in malignant strictures, while those with benign stricture had smooth tapering (7, 58.33%) as the commonest finding. On flexible endoscopy, the level of growth corroborated with the barium swallow findings in all 34 patients with malignant strictures and the lower one third (16, 47.05%) was observed to be the most common site of affection. Majority (21, 58.8%) of patients were having squamous cell carcinoma, with adenocarcinoma dominating in lower one third lesions (13 out of 16, 81.25%). No cases of adenocarcinoma were noted in middle and upper one third lesions.Conclusions: Majority of patients with malignant strictures were having squamous cell carcinoma, with adenocarcinoma dominating in lower one third lesions. Surgical resection led to relief from dysphagia in all the 6 cases of oesophagectomy with oesophagogastric anastomosis in malignant stricture cases with excellent long term survival and symptomatic relief

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