Advances in the treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis in the new world in the last ten years: a systematic literature review

Abstract

Introduction: The therapeutic arsenal against cutaneous leishmaniasis is very limited. Pentavalent antimonial compounds have been the drugs of choice for treatment of this disease for over 50 years. Despite their effectiveness, these drugs require daily injections, have many side effects and present prolonged healing time.

Objective: To carry out a systematic literature review on the advances in the treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis in the new world in the last ten years.

Methods: We conducted an electronic search on the Pubmed and LILACS database as well as on the SciELO electronic library in June 2009. The search words in English were: "cutaneous", "leishmaniasis" and "treatment". We included only randomized, double-blind and placebo controlled trials. We used the Jadad scale to assess the quality of the selected studies.

Results: According to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, only eight articles were selected. The drugs evaluated in the selected studies were glucantime®, miltefosine, immunotherapy, imiquimod, rhGM-CSF and pentoxifylline, and paromomycin.

Conclusion: Although cutaneous leishmaniasis is a major public health issue, the published data on the use of new drugs for the treatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis in Brazil are still quite limited.