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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2014 Jul-Aug;31(4):440-9.
doi: 10.1111/j.1525-1470.2012.01810.x. Epub 2012 Aug 16.

Cantharidin for the treatment of molluscum contagiosum: a prospective, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial

Jacquelyn Coloe Dosal  1 , Paul W Stewart, Ja-An Lin, Christianna S Williams, Dean S Morrell
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Cantharidin for the treatment of molluscum contagiosum: a prospective, double-blinded, placebo-controlled trial

Jacquelyn Coloe Dosal et al. Pediatr Dermatol. 2014 Jul-Aug.

Abstract

Our aim was to study the effects and safety of cantharidin in the treatment of molluscum contagiosum (MC), we conducted a prospective, double-blinded, placebo-controlled, randomized clinical trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of topical cantharidin for treatment of pediatric MC in an academic ambulatory care center. Twenty-nine children aged 5-10 with a diagnosis of MC were enrolled to receive treatment with cantharidin or placebo. The main outcome measure was complete clearance of all molluscum lesions. In contrast to previous retrospective observational studies, the performance of cantharidin treatment over 2 months was not substantially better than the performance of placebo. The scope of follow-up was limited to five visits over 2 months of treatment. A longer follow-up period might have captured a greater effect of cantharidin. Over a 2 month period, the magnitude of the cantharidin treatment effects in the target population are, at best, not large. This study provided objective unbiased estimates of the magnitude of cantharidin treatment effects and provided important prospective safety data. Our subjects experienced minimal side effects when treated with cantharidin.

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Conflict of interest statement

There are no conflicts of interest to state for any of the authors.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
At visit 1, duration of MC infection (weeks) was moderately confounded with age (years). The coefficient of correlation between age and log10(duration) was r = 0.42 with 95% CI [0.06, 0.68]. Values plotted are for subjects assigned to cantharidin (solid dots) and for subjects assigned to placebo (open circles).
Figure 2
Figure 2
The individual-specific lesion counts in log10 scale for each treatment group. As a visual aid, each nonparametric smooth curve descibes the trajectory for an individual child. The temporal index is Weeks. Only 3 subjects experienced complete clearance (squared symbol plotted at “1 or 0”). Two other subjects (placebo) has 1 lesion at visit 5. Another subject (cantharidin, age 5) had only 1 lesion at visit 3, but 6 lesions at visit 5.
Figure 3
Figure 3
For cantharidin (●) and for placebo (⊕), visit-specific sample means (left) and sample medians (right) are shown with their corresponding 95% confidence intervals.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Rate of change in log10(count) per week was computed for each child by linear regression. Rate = 0 indicates the count did not change, while Rate = −0.5 indicates a rapid decrease in lesion count. For cantharidin (solid dots), the coefficient of correlation between Age (yrs) and Rate of change (per week) was r = −0.57 with 95% CI [−0.85, −0.03]. For placebo r = 0.01 with 95% CI [−0.49, 0.50].
Figure 5
Figure 5
Flow diagram of participant progress throughout the trial.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

References

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