Comparison of various regimens of itraconazole in treatment of acute vulvovaginal candidiasis

Abstract

One of the most striking change in the current scenario is the increasing occurrence of non-albicans vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC), which is considered as the major cause of recurrence, relapse and chronic VVC in India. In the present study we evaluated the effectiveness of three different regimens of itraconazole in the treatment of acute VVC.The present randomised, three arm comparative clinical study involved 123 women aged 18 years or above with symptomatic acute VVC. These patients were randomised (41 patients in each group) to receive either itraconazole 200 mg twice daily for 1 day (group I), 200 mg twice daily for 2 days (group II) or 100 mg twice daily for 3 days (group III). Effectiveness was evaluated on the basis of clinical cure (total symptom score), mycological cure (negative KOH test). All the groups were effective in relieving signs and symptoms (p<0.05), but on comparison between all groups, there was statistical difference between Group II and Group I & III (p<0.05) and Group III & I (p<0.05). Complete cure i.e. disappearance of signs and symptoms and negative KOH test was maximum in group II (44%) as compared to groups I (12%) and III (17% of the patients). Relapse was least in seen in 11 patients (27%) in Group I, 3 patients (7%) in Group II and 7 patients (17%) in Group III. All the 3 regimens were well tolerated.In the present study, 2 day high dose itraconazole therapy was found to have better effectiveness compared to conventional regimens. Longer duration of therapy might be required to attain even better cure rates, especially when the incidence of Non Albicans vulvovaginal candidiasis is rising in all parts of the country.