Beneficial effects of chaulmoogra in leprous neuritis.

"Among the serious complications of leprosy are the lesions caused by leprous neuritis, especially when the process involves the trunk and terminal nerves severely. In that event, in advanced stages, it causes serious disorders such as total anesthesia of extensive areas, muscular atrophies and retraction of fingers and toes, incapability of working, and, finally, deformities and mutilations which constitute for the patient a veritable martyrdom, physical and moral. One can say without exaggeration that, from the point of view of prognosis, and from that of the patients themselves, the neural involvements and complications are more serious than the cutaneous manifestations. The latter, even if advanced, may regress without leaving sequelae of importance compared with the end results of nerve damflge, for which so little can be done. Hence we should give serious thought to the nerve lesions, and treat them early and properly.