Clinical usefulness of oral itraconazole, an antimycotic drug, for refractory atopic dermatitis.

We investigated the clinical usefulness of oral itraconazole for refractory atopic dermatitis in a crossover study. Patients with refractory atopic dermatitis were divided into two groups: Group A; a combination of itraconazole plus a conventional lactobacillus preparation was administered for 8 weeks, followed by lactobacillus preparation alone for 8 weeks, Group B; lactobacillus preparation alone was administered for 8 weeks, followed by itraconazole plus lactobacillus for 8 weeks. In both groups, a decrease in dose or strength of concomitant topical steroids was observed at the end of the treatment course of itraconazole, and improvement of parameters such as eosinophil count, serum IgE level and specific IgE antibody titers to fungi was also observed after the administration of itraconazole. These results suggest that oral itraconazole is useful for the treatment of intractable atopic dermatitis patients who do not respond to conventional therapeutic approaches.