Long-term Follow-up Study on Tinea Unguium.

概要

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Tinea unguium was originally looked upon as a recalcitrant disease. Griseofulvin (GRF) has been the only effective drug for treatment of tinea unguium for the past thirty years, however, the cure rates reported in earlier studies, all of whose observation periods were less than one-and-a-half years, were controversial. Since nail changes by tinea unguium are extremely slow, a long-term follow up study is necessary to better evaluate the effectiveness of GRF. We have studied patients with tinea unguium treated by this drug for thirty years. This is the longest observation period for this kind of study that has ever been made. Over that time, the mean age of patients rose slightly, but the treatment period did not change significantly. The overall cure rate treated by GRF is 32.4% (91/281), but the cure rate for patients successfully followed-up over 4 months is 52.9% (91/172). Adverse effects occur in 8.5% (24/281) of the patients but are not dangerous. Our data suggest that over half of the patients successfully followed-up over 4 months are cured at last, and there is no severe adverse effect caused by GRF even over a longer period. We therefore conclude that GRF is an effective and safe drug for treatment of tinea unguium if patients are able to continue the treatment over 4 months.
日本医真菌学会の論文