Cryosurgery in cutaneous leishmaniasis.

Thirty patients with cutaneous leishmaniasis were treated with cryotherapy using a CO2 cryomachine and all were cured without noticeable scarring within 4-5 weeks, with no relapse. Histopathological examination showed that cryotherapy eradicated all parasites in less than 1 hour. Leishmania tropica, L. ethiopica and L. brasiliensis are all markedly thermosensitive and thus cryotherapy seems parasiticidal to all types. Adequate cryotreatment of cutaneous leishmaniasis will preclude the development of mucocutaneous extension, and its use in mucocutaneous disease is also recommended.