[Resistance to polychemotherapy in patients with Hansen's disease]

This paper describes a case report of a patient from the Sanatorio Agua de Dios-Cundinamarca diagnosed with histioid lepromatous leprosy with suspected resistance to polychemotherapy (PQT), making evident the importance of clinical criteria for initiating an alternative therapy given the limitations of paraclinical examinations. Resistance should be suspected and diagnosed early to prevent the progression of the disease; clinical and paraclinical criteria help to confirm diagnosis. In bacteriological studies, the Colombian semiquantitative scale should be replaced by the Ridley-Jopling logarithmic scale. Histopathological studies are conducted on all patients with Hansen's disease. Research on resistance is being implemented in the country, but its access limits the opportunity for support in therapy initiation.