Background: Antileishmanial chemotherapy can have adverse effects and may fail to cure patients with cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL).
Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of a weekly cryotherapy regimen in patients with confirmed Leishmania major infection.
Methods: One hundred twenty Jordanian patients with 375 lesions were treated with cryotherapy performed once weekly in 1 to 7 sessions. This regimen was adopted since living parasites were recovered, in several CL patients, even after 3 cryosessions. Scarring was assessed in 78 patients 3 years after treatment.
Results: Approximately 84% of the lesions were cured after 1 to 4 sessions. The remaining lesions (16.3%) were cured after an additional 1 to 3 session(s). Cryotherapy caused mild adverse side effects and most of the patients were cured with negligible scarring. Statistically, the lesion size and location significantly affected the clinical response to cryotherapy.
Limitations: A fraction of patients was followed up 3 years after healing.
Conclusion: Cryotherapy with weekly intervals for 1 to 4 sessions is effective to treat L major CL, especially for smaller lesions. Extra sessions may be necessary to cure larger lesions. The cosmetic results are very good and no relapses were registered.