Prophylactic treatment with miconazole in patients highly predisposed to fungal infection. A placebo-controlled double-blind study

Abstract

In a placebo-controlled double-blind study the prophylactic value of oral systemic treatment with the antimycotic agent miconazole was assessed in 30 highly predisposed patients receiving intensive cytostatic chemotherapy because of haematological malignancies. Patients colonized with Candida before treatment were not freed from this micro-organism by miconazole treatment. However, only 3 out of 6 initially non-colonized miconazole-treated patients became colonized during the study, against 10 out of 10 placebo-treated patients (p = 0.036). Seven out of 15 patients in the placebo group developed clinical mycosis, against only two out of 15 in the miconazole group. The miconazole-treated patients remained clinically free of mycosis for 252 out of 264 treatment days, while the placebo-treated patients remained free of mycosis for only 263 out or 338 treatment days (p = 0.0001). The results indicate that systemic miconazole treatment protects highly predisposed patients from colonization with Candida and prevents or postpones clinically established candidosis.