{"title":"Three-Dose Antifungal Treatment Improves the Efficacy for Severe Vulvovaginal Candidiasis.","authors":"Zhansong Xiao, Yiheng Liang, Xiaowei Zhang, Yuxia Zhu, Liting Huang, Shangrong Fan","doi":"10.1007/s11046-024-00889-4","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC) is a prevalent gynecological infection characterized by high incidence and recurrent episodes, causing significant distress in women. This study aims to assess the effectiveness of different clotrimazole and fluconazole treatment regimens for severe vulvovaginal candidiasis (SVVC). A retrospective analysis was conducted on 1303 cases of SVVC among first-time visitors to the gynecology outpatient department at Peking University Shenzhen Hospital between January 2013 and December 2022. Vaginal secretions were systematically collected for fungal culture, with species identification conducted using Chromogenic culture medium and API Candida test reagents. Mycological cure rates were assessed at days 7-14, days 25-35, and day 35 to 6 months after treatment. The three-dose clotrimazole regimen demonstrated significantly higher mycological cure rates (85.7%, 80.0% and 74.6% at three follow-up periods, respectively) compared to the two-dose clotrimazole regimen (76.0%, 61.6%, and 59.8%, all P < 0.05). The three-dose fluconazole regimen showed no significant difference to three-dose clotrimazole regimen, with cure rates of 82.8%, 79.3%, and 75.9% (all P > 0.05). The two-dose fluconazole regimen had cure rates of 74.3%, 56.4% and 51.1%, with no significant difference from two-dose clotrimazole regimen at days 7-14 and 25-35, but lower than three-dose fluconazole regimen at days 25-35 and 35 to 6 months. The three-dose clotrimazole regimen demonstrated higher cure rates in Candida albicans and non-albicans Candida SVVC cases than two-dose regimen. These findings suggest that three-dose antifungal regimens may be more efficacious than two-dose regimens for SVVC. The three-dose clotrimazole regimen could serve as a promising alternative for SVVC management.</p>","PeriodicalId":19017,"journal":{"name":"Mycopathologia","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.6000,"publicationDate":"2024-10-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11493825/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Mycopathologia","FirstCategoryId":"99","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11046-024-00889-4","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"生物学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"MYCOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC) is a prevalent gynecological infection characterized by high incidence and recurrent episodes, causing significant distress in women. This study aims to assess the effectiveness of different clotrimazole and fluconazole treatment regimens for severe vulvovaginal candidiasis (SVVC). A retrospective analysis was conducted on 1303 cases of SVVC among first-time visitors to the gynecology outpatient department at Peking University Shenzhen Hospital between January 2013 and December 2022. Vaginal secretions were systematically collected for fungal culture, with species identification conducted using Chromogenic culture medium and API Candida test reagents. Mycological cure rates were assessed at days 7-14, days 25-35, and day 35 to 6 months after treatment. The three-dose clotrimazole regimen demonstrated significantly higher mycological cure rates (85.7%, 80.0% and 74.6% at three follow-up periods, respectively) compared to the two-dose clotrimazole regimen (76.0%, 61.6%, and 59.8%, all P < 0.05). The three-dose fluconazole regimen showed no significant difference to three-dose clotrimazole regimen, with cure rates of 82.8%, 79.3%, and 75.9% (all P > 0.05). The two-dose fluconazole regimen had cure rates of 74.3%, 56.4% and 51.1%, with no significant difference from two-dose clotrimazole regimen at days 7-14 and 25-35, but lower than three-dose fluconazole regimen at days 25-35 and 35 to 6 months. The three-dose clotrimazole regimen demonstrated higher cure rates in Candida albicans and non-albicans Candida SVVC cases than two-dose regimen. These findings suggest that three-dose antifungal regimens may be more efficacious than two-dose regimens for SVVC. The three-dose clotrimazole regimen could serve as a promising alternative for SVVC management.
期刊介绍:
Mycopathologia is an official journal of the International Union of Microbiological Societies (IUMS). Mycopathologia was founded in 1938 with the mission to ‘diffuse the understanding of fungal diseases in man and animals among mycologists’. Many of the milestones discoveries in the field of medical mycology have been communicated through the pages of this journal. Mycopathologia covers a diverse, interdisciplinary range of topics that is unique in breadth and depth. The journal publishes peer-reviewed, original articles highlighting important developments concerning medically important fungi and fungal diseases. The journal highlights important developments in fungal systematics and taxonomy, laboratory diagnosis of fungal infections, antifungal drugs, clinical presentation and treatment, and epidemiology of fungal diseases globally. Timely opinion articles, mini-reviews, and other communications are usually invited at the discretion of the editorial board. Unique case reports highlighting unprecedented progress in the diagnosis and treatment of fungal infections, are published in every issue of the journal. MycopathologiaIMAGE is another regular feature for a brief clinical report of potential interest to a mixed audience of physicians and laboratory scientists. MycopathologiaGENOME is designed for the rapid publication of new genomes of human and animal pathogenic fungi using a checklist-based, standardized format.