CLINICAL STUDY OF FLUCONAZOLE ON DEEP-SEATED FUNGAL INFECTIONS

Fluconazole is a novel antifungal agent, available in oral and intravenous forms, which was developed by Pfizer Central Research. It is characterized by its long serum half-life (approximately 30 hours) to allow once-a-day dosing and favorable safety profile. Fluconazole was administered orally or intravenously to 166 patients with deep-seated mycosis and it was possible to evaluate clinical efficacies in 99 patients. Clinical cures were obtained in 41 (87.2%) out of 47 cases of candidiasis, in 10 (66.7%) out of 15 cases of cryptococcosis, in 17 (48.6%) out of 35 cases of aspergillosis and in 1 case each (100%) of mucormycosis and mycosis due to an unspecified yeast. Side effects were observed in 10 cases (rash 2, fever 2, abdominal discomfort 1, nausea 1, edema 1, edema/pleural effusion/oliguria 1, finger stiffness 1, hiccup 1) with incidence rate of 6.06/9. Drug administrations were discontinued in 4 cases. In general, however, fluconazole was well tolerated. Abnormal changes in laboratory test values due to the drug were observed in 32 cases and incidence rate was 19.3%. These were, however, slight and temporary changes and most of them were in parameters of liver function. It is not clear if these changes were related to the fluconazole administration, because other drugs were concomitantly administered to these cases. These results indicate that fluconazole is an agent with very good potential for the treatment of the systemic deep-seated mycoses.