title: Combination therapy for dendritic keratitis with acyclovir and vidarabine.
abstract: We treated 32 patients with dendritic keratitis with a combination of acyclovir 3% ointment and vidarabine 3% ointment or acyclovir and placebo. Patients with acyclovir alone healed in an average time of 7.7 days, while patients on the combination healed in an average of 6 days. Only one patient in the acyclovir and vidarabine group had a healing time longer than 7 days, whereas six patients in the acyclovir and placebo group had healing times longer than 7 days. By the median test, this difference in healing times was statistically significant (p = 0.035), and the combination prevented cases of prolonged ulceration.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ophthalmology, Hopital Morvan, Brest, France.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Colin
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chastel
authors.forename: H E
authors.initials: HE
authors.lastname: Kaufman
authors.forename: G E
authors.initials: GE
authors.lastname: Kissling
mesh_terms: D000212:Acyclovir / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007635:Keratitis, Dendritic / Q000188:drug therapy*; D008297:Male; D009824:Ointments; D011897:Random Allocation; D013997:Time Factors; D014740:Vidarabine / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D014945:Wound Healing / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D009824:Ointments; D014740:Vidarabine; D000212:Acyclovir