Evaluation of Combination Therapies with Cepharanthin for Alopecia Areata

Abstract

We evaluated the clinical efficacy and adverse events of cepharanthin combination therapy for alopecia areata in 71 patients aged 16 years or older. The drugs or therapies used with cepharanthin were a glycyrrhizin preparation, an external steroid preparation, liquid carpronium chloride, and liquid nitrogen. The clinical efficacy of this study of 71 patients, was a complete response in 8 patients (11.3%), an effective one in 34 patients (47.9%), a minor response in 23 patients (32.4%), no change in 5 patients (7.0%) and aggravation in 1 patient (1.4%). Therefore, 42 of these 71 patients had positive responses (59.2%). Nine patients with alopecia areata monolocularis were treated with dual therapy, and 7 of them (77.8%) were treated with the combination of cepharanthin and an oral glycyrrhizin preparation. Amomg the patients with alopecia areata multilocularis, there were no significant differences in clinical efficacy between the group with dual treatments and those without them Within the dual therapy groups, the most successful treatments were the combination of cepharanthin with an external preparation of carpronium chloride liquid (8 patients, 88.9%), and the combination of cepharanthin with a steroid external preparation (3 patients, 75.0%). However, the combination of oral cepharanthin and an oral glycyrrhizin preparation was effective in only 11 patients (45.4% which is significantly (p<0.05) lower than the combinations of oral and external preparations. Our data indicate that the combination of oral cepharanthin and external preparations such as carpronium chloride or a steroid, may be more effective than the combination with oral cepharanthin and an oral preparation.