Successful kidney transplantation in leprosy and transitory recurrence of the disease

A 40-year-old woman on chronic hemodialysis had been diagnosed as having lepromatous leprosy at the age of 17 and treated for 15 years with sulfones. She remained clinically free of leprosy during 19 months of hemodialysis and then underwent successful renal transplantation. Fourteen months after surgery, recurrence of leprosy was observed. In spite of immunosuppression, the skin lesions healed with sulfone treatment. Renal transplantation is a useful treatment in patients with leprosy and chronic renal failure.