EFFECTIVENESS OF TREATMENT OF TINEA CORPORIS COMPARING TERBINAFINE AND ITRACONAZOLE: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW

Abstract

Tinea corporis or “ringworm”, is a dermatophytosis prevalent in countries with hot and humid climates. As treatment of choice, Itraconazole and Terbinafine are mainly used. The aim is to analyze the effectiveness of Itraconazole in relation to Terbinafine in patients with Tinea corporis. This is a systematic literature review, whose guiding question is “In patients with Tinea corporis, is the use of Itraconazole more effective than Terbinafine?”. Studies were extracted from the following databases: Virtual Health Library, U.S. National Institutes of Health's National Library of Medicine (NIH/NLM –PUBMED), Latin American and Caribbean Literature in Health Sciences (LILACS), Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO) and Brazilian Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations (BDTD). The search strategy adopted was: <<“Tinea corporis” AND Terbinafine AND Itraconazole>>. Subsequently, eligibility criteria were applied, selecting randomized clinical trials, in English or Portuguese, published in the last 10 years and that answered the question. The final sample consisted of five articles. In comparative randomized clinical studies with Terbinafine, Itraconazole demonstrated a more effective clinical response, achieving a significantly higher cure rate. Furthermore, it was shown that combined therapy had a 90% cure rate, while Itraconazole alone achieved 50% and terbinafine 35%. From the evaluation of the studies and based on the results obtained, it was possible to verify the superiority of Itraconazole in relation to Terbinafine, in monotherapy.