Treatment of tinea capitis caused by Microsporum ferrugineum with itraconazole.

A prospective, non-randomized, open clinical trial was conducted to determine the efficacy of itraconazole for treatment of Microsporum ferrugineum tinea capitis. Itraconazole capsules were given every day in continuous group and every day for 1 week on and 3-week off in pulse therapy group. Concomitant topical therapy with 2% ketoconazole shampoo was used daily. Clinical evaluation consisted of assessing the degree of hair loss, scaling, erythema, pustule, and crust. In both groups, the treatment was stopped when the clinical signs of inflammation had resolved and the mycological examination had become negative or at week 12. There were 81 patients consisted of 49 boys and 32 girls enrolled and average dose of itraconazole was 4.5 mg/kg/day. During the 16-week study period (with 4-week follow-up visit) the overall clinical severity score decreased every visit (p < 0.001). The improvement of the scores showed no statistical difference between both groups. The cumulative cure rate using combined clinical and mycological cure at week 16 in patients treated with continuous and pulse regimen was 54.3% (19/35) and 37.0% (17/46), respectively. The cumulative percentage of all cure rates including clinical cure, mycological cure and combined clinical and mycological cure of the continuous group was significantly higher than in the pulse therapy group (p < 0.001). The superior efficacy of the continuous therapy group was observed after week 8. The cumulative cure rate increased with the longer treatment duration but decreased with the larger infected area involvement (p = 0.001). All patients who were not cured showed improvement. There was no significant adverse effect. The higher dosage or the longer treatment duration of itraconazole may be required for treatment of tinea capitis from M. ferrugineum to achieve more cure rate.