One-A-Day Tablet Treats Common Infection
A bioadhesive tablet containing the antifungal drug miconazole is an effective and convenient means of treating oropharyngeal candidiasis, which is the most frequently occurring infection in head and neck cancer patients undergoing radiation therapy, scientists report today at the 2nd ESMO Scientific & Educational Conference (ESEC) in Budapest, Hungary.
Dr. Rene-Jean Bensadoun from Centre Antoine Lacassagne in Nice, and international colleagues, studied patients in 36 centers who had completed radiotherapy for head and neck cancer and had oropharyngeal candidiasis confirmed by examination or fungal culture.
One group of 141 patients were given daily a bioadhesive tablet containing 50mg of miconazole, developed by BioAlliance Pharma, a French biopharmaceutical company, the other 141 patients received a mouth gel (MBG) containing 125mg of miconazole four times daily for 14 days.
“We found that the daily bioadhesive buccal tablet achieved the same efficacy as the gel, but required one-tenth as much miconazole, and could be given on a much more convenient schedule,” Dr. Bensadoun said.
“Patients currently need to apply the gel four times a day, which is disruptive to their day and increases the risk that they will miss treatments and suffer the discomfort of candidiasis for a longer period of time.”
“While oropharyngeal candidiasis is perhaps not a dangerous infection, it is unpleasant, and anything we can do as oncologists to improve the quality of life of cancer patients is a positive thing.”
“Head and neck cancer patients suffer not only from their disease, but experience many acute and chronic side-effects due to treatment”, comments Dr. Dirk Schrijvers from the Department of Medical Oncology of the ZNA Middelheim, Antwerp, Belgium. Everything that can improve the quality of life of these patients during and after treatment will have an impact on treatment compliance and disease outcome. By providing a simpler way of controlling oral candidiasis, patient compliance may increase.
Media Contact
More Information:
http://www.esmo.orgAll latest news from the category: Health and Medicine
This subject area encompasses research and studies in the field of human medicine.
Among the wide-ranging list of topics covered here are anesthesiology, anatomy, surgery, human genetics, hygiene and environmental medicine, internal medicine, neurology, pharmacology, physiology, urology and dental medicine.
Newest articles
Machine learning algorithm reveals long-theorized glass phase in crystal
Scientists have found evidence of an elusive, glassy phase of matter that emerges when a crystal’s perfect internal pattern is disrupted. X-ray technology and machine learning converge to shed light…
Mapping plant functional diversity from space
HKU ecologists revolutionize ecosystem monitoring with novel field-satellite integration. An international team of researchers, led by Professor Jin WU from the School of Biological Sciences at The University of Hong…
Inverters with constant full load capability
…enable an increase in the performance of electric drives. Overheating components significantly limit the performance of drivetrains in electric vehicles. Inverters in particular are subject to a high thermal load,…
