Treatment of chronic Chagas' disease with itraconazole and allopurinol.
Four hundred four patients with chronic Chagas' disease were treated with itraconazole (6 mg/kg of body weight/day for 120 days), allopurinol (8.5 mg/kg of body weight/day for 60 days), or with a placebo of pure starch. Patients were monitored over a period of four years by clinical examination, serology, xenodiagnosis, hemoculture, and electrocardiogram. Drug tolerance was good, with only four treatments discontinued due to side effects that subsided after suspension of treatment. Parasitologic cure was evident in 44% of the those treated with allopurinol and 53% of those treated with itraconazole, and the electrocardiographic evaluation showed normalization in 36.5% and 48.2%, respectively, of patients with chronic or recent cardiopathy.
Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Chile, Santiago.
W
W
Apt
X
X
Aguilera
A
A
Arribada
C
C
Pérez
C
C
Miranda
G
G
Sánchez
I
I
Zulantay
P
P
Cortés
J
J
Rodriguez
D
D
Juri
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000493:Allopurinol / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000818:Animals; D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan / Q000097:blood; D000935:Antifungal Agents / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000963:Antimetabolites / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001681:Biological Assay; D002598:Chagas Cardiomyopathy / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology; D014355:Chagas Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology; D002648:Child; D002908:Chronic Disease; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D004562:Electrocardiography; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007303:Insect Vectors / Q000469:parasitology; D017964:Itraconazole / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009758:Nymph / Q000469:parasitology; D014224:Triatoma / Q000469:parasitology; D014349:Trypanosoma cruzi / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification
D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan; D000935:Antifungal Agents; D000963:Antimetabolites; D017964:Itraconazole; D000493:Allopurinol