Ketoconazole treatment of chronic mucocutaneous candidiasis

The authors report the results of treatment with ketoconazole in 8 patients with chronic mucocutaneous candidiasis (CMC). The drug, administered in the dose of 200 mg once a day orally for a period of time varying from 2 to 12 months, led to improvement in or elimination of clinical symptoms in all patients. One patient had a relapse on suspension of treatment, but this regressed rapidly on resumption of ketoconazole. In 7 cases there were no side-effects. In one case there was an increase in serum liver enzymes which disappeared spontaneously 7 days after suspension of treatment. These results appear encouraging in view of the difficulty of treating this disease, which is often resistant to conventional antifungal therapy.