Improved efficacy in onychomycosis therapy.
The success rate of onychomycosis treatment is limited by several factors, including the access of the therapeutic agent to the fungal mass, the presence of conidia, and the susceptibility of the different infectious agents to the antifungals. Different strategies used to improve efficacy of the currently available antifungal treatments, their rationale, and the published evidence of their beneficial effects are reviewed. An improved efficacy was demonstrated for some of these strategies, such as combined oral and topical antifungal therapies, whereas most of them lack clear and direct evidence of an increase in therapeutic success.
Department of Medicine, University of Toronto School of Medicine, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Mediprobe Research, Inc., London, Ontario, Canada. Electronic address: agupta@execulink.com.
Aditya K
AK
Gupta
Maryse
M
Paquet
D000935:Antifungal Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000493:pharmacokinetics* / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D003646:Debridement; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D005658:Fungi / Q000254:growth & development*; D006801:Humans; D007478:Iontophoresis; D008018:Life Cycle Stages; D014009:Onychomycosis / Q000382:microbiology / Q000628:therapy*; D010539:Permeability / Q000187:drug effects; D015612:Phonophoresis
D000935:Antifungal Agents