Abstract
Pulse therapy of itraconazole at a daily dose of 200mg consisting of a 1-week administration and 3-week withdrawal period was carried out for 6 cycles in patients with tinea unguium, and its efficacy and safety were evaluated. Of the 24 subjects in total, 22 were analyzed for safety, and 20 were analyzed for efficacy. The average ratio of cloudiness before administration was 8.2, which decreased to 2.0 after the completion of the oral treatment. A cure was recognized at 3 months after the start of this therapeutic regimen. The cure rate after the completion of the therapeutic regimen was 40.0%. “Markedly effective” and “Effective” were recorded by 65.0% and 90.0% of the patients respectively. Regarding side effects, one case each of coughing and swelling of the face were recognized; however, these symptoms improved after the drug administration was discontinued. No abnormalities in the laboratory data were observed. In evaluating the usefulness consisting of the efficacy and safety profiles, “Definitely useful” was 65.0% and “Useful” and “Definitely useful” were 90.0%. Based on these results, the pulse therapy of itraconazole in treating tinea unguium was thus concluded to be safe and useful.
