Case Report/Research LetterFast elimination of onychomycosis by hematoporphyrin derivative-photodynamic therapy
Section snippets
Background
The drugs usually indicated to treat ringworm of the nails are topical ointments, solutions or glazes. More difficult cases require treatment using oral tablets, and once the organisms become resistant, due to the slow growth of the nails, improvement is then slow. Nails can take up to 12 months to completely renovate and any treatment should be maintained throughout this whole period of time [1]. Persistence is key to conventional treatment which requires a long follow-up, and the type of
Case study
We conducted this study with a patient (male, 59 years old) with nail diseases caused by fungus. This patient had the lesions for approximately 30 (right hallux) and 10 (left hallux) years and was treated with the solution Photogem®. Approval of the University Ethical Committee was obtained as required (79th Ethics Committee Meeting on November 16, 2010). The patient had not responded to oral treatment with fluconazole, and was positive for the laboratory cultures indicating the presence of
Discussion and conclusion
In this work we are presenting a new clinical trial using porphyrin and a homemade device anatomically designed for the treatment of the onychomycosis. This work represents part of a complete research that compares two different photosensitizers and involves around 90 patients. Other compound photoactivated at 450 nm is being evaluated and we are working to present the results soon. The in vitro studies such as confocal microscopy are ongoing to understand the photodynamic inactivation
Acknowledgements
This work has been supported by grants from Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP; CEPOF Grant No. 98/14270-8) and Financiadora de Estudos e Projeto FINEP-Gnatus (Grant No. 554339/2010-2). APS was supported by a Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico fellowship (CNPq FINEP-Gnatus; Grant No. 381132/2010-2).
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