[Clinical efficacy of fluconazole in the patient with pulmonary mycosis]

Fluconazole, a novel triazole antifungal agent, was given orally or intravenously to 10 patients with pulmonary mycosis (7 patients with primary pulmonary cryptococcosis and 3 with pulmonary aspergillosis). Routes of administration were changed in some patients depending on their condition. Two patients from whom foci was removed by surgical operations were excluded from the efficacy assessment. Clinical efficacies in the remaining 8 patients were good in 2 cases and fair in 3 cases of pulmonary cryptococcosis; excellent in 1 case of pneumonia due to Aspergillus; and fair in 1 case and poor in the other case of pulmonary aspergilloma. Side reactions developed in 9 patients who received intravenous drip infusion were nausea or loss of appetite in 3 patients, fever and/or feverish sensation in 3, vascular pain in 1 and diarrhea and eruption in 1. In the patient who reported fever the drug was discontinued and in the patient who complained of pain at the site of injection, dosing was changed to the oral route but was discontinued due to elevated GOT, GPT, Al-P and gamma-GTP. Seven patients who received the drug orally did not report side effects except 2 patients. None of these side effects reported was serious and from the above results, fluconazole was considered to be a useful agent for the treatment of pulmonary mycosis.