Mohammad Jahangir, Tariq Zaman, Khawar Khurshid, Manzoor Ul Hasan, Tahir Sabed Haroon.
Itraconazole pulse therapy for Onychomycosis - An open study with 2 & 3 pulses for finger and toe nail Onychomycosis.
J Pak Assoc Derma Jan ;8(3):2-6.

To evaluate the efficacy and safety of intermittent pulse dose itraconazole in the treatment of onychomycosis, 46 patients, aged between 18 - 75 years, with mycologically confirmed onychomycosis were enrolled in an open trial. Out of the 38 evaluable patients, 21 (16 -men & 5 women) had toenail infection while 17 (7 men & 1C women) suffered from finger nail infection. Itraconazole 200 mg twice daily for one week followed by drug free period of 3 weeks, constituted one pulse. Two and three such pulses were administered for finger and toenail infections respectively. Patients were followed up for a period of 32 and 48 weeks, respectively. Trichophyton rubrum was the most common pathogen (92.2%). Cure rates (total response and marked improvement) for finger and toenail infections at the end of treatment period were 41.2% and 28.6% and had swelled to 94.1% & 85.7% respectively at the end of follow up. No serious side effects were encountered. It was concluded that itraconazole, intermittent pulse-dose therapy, is effective and safe for onychomycosis.

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