Novel Low-Cost Thermotherapy for Cutaneous Leishmaniasis in Peru

Thermotherapy is an accepted alternative therapy for new-world cutaneous leishmaniasis,but current heat-delivery modalities are too costly to be made widely available to endemic populations. we adapted a low-cost heat pack named the hect-cl device that delivers safe,reliable,and renewable conduction heat. 25 patients with cutaneous leishmaniasis completed treatment with the device at an initial temperature of 52°c±2°c for 3 minutes to each lesion,repeated daily for 7 days,and were followed up for 6 months by direct observation. the overall definitive clinical cure rate was 60%. concurrently,13 patients meeting minimally significant exclusion criteria received identical compassionate use treatment with a cumulative definitive cure rate of 68.4%,75% for those who had experienced cl relapse after prior antimonial treatment. therapy was well tolerated. reversible second-degree burns occurred in two patients and no bacterial super-infections were observed. hect-cl is a promising treatment and deserves further study to verify its safety and efficacy as adjuvant and mono- therapy. © 2013 valencia et al.