The efficacy of topical treatment with concentrated boiled extract and Hydroalcoholic extract of cassia fistula in comparison with intralesional injection of Glucantime in the treatment of acute Leishmaniasis

Background and aim: Cutaneous leishmaniasis is an endemic disease in Iran. Although there are many different treatments for this disease, there is not any effective treatment yet. Since there has been a number of different reports on the effectiveness of Cassia fistula plant in the treatment of leishmaniasis, the efficacy of concentrated boiled extract and hydro alcoholic extract of Cassia fistula on the leishmaniasis disease was compared with intralesional injection of Glucantime in this study.Materials and Methods: In this randomized clinical trial a total of 165 patients, 6 to 60 years old, who had a positive leishmania smear refered to the Isfahan Skin and Leishmaniasis Research Center were divided into three groups using list of random numbers and were treated with: concentrated boiled extract of Cassia fistula, hydroalcholic extract of Cassia fistula, or intralesional injection of Glucantime. The patients were treated for 4 weeks and followed for three months after the study started. The efficacy of treatment was reported as complete cure, partial improvement and no improvement on the basis of clinical and parasitological evidence.Results: In the present study 63/6% of patients treated with the concentrated boiled extract, 52/7% of the hydroalcoholic extract and 45/5% of the Glucantime group were men. 22 patients (40%) of the concentrated boiled extract of Cassia fistula, 20 pateints (36/4%) of the hydroalcoholic extract of Cassia fistula group and 36 patients (65/5%) of the Glucantime group showed complete cure. The efficacy in the third group was much more than the first (P<0.02) and second groups (P<0.005), but there was not any difference between concentrated boiled extract and hydroalcoholic extract of Cassia fistula.Conclusion: The results of this study showed that this plant might be used topically along with Glucantime for decreasing the time and dose of treatment with Glucantime.