A clinical trial of hydrocortisone/potassium hydroxyquinoline sulphate ('Quinocort') in the treatment of infected eczema and impetigo in general practice.

A double-blind, multi-centre study was carried out in general practice in 76 patients with infected eczema and 43 with impetigo to assess the effectiveness and acceptability of treatment with 1% hydrocortisone plus 0.5% potassium hydroxyquinoline sulphate cream compared with that of 1% hydrocortisone plus 2% miconazole nitrate cream. Patients were allocated at random to receive treatment with one or other preparation, applied twice daily, over a period of 2 weeks. Assessments were made of total symptom severity scores on entry and at the end of each week, as also were bacteriological investigations. The results showed that both combinations produced marked clinical and bacteriological improvement or cure in approximately 90% of patients with infected eczema and the success rate was similar with each preparation. In the case of patients with impetigo, hydrocortisone/potassium hydroxyquinoline sulphate proved significantly more effective than the other combination, the success rates being 92% and 74%, respectively. Patient assessment of the two topical preparations in terms of greasiness, odour and staining showed that, whilst both were considered acceptable by most, there was a trend in favour of the hydrocortisone/potassium hydroxyquinoline sulphate cream. No systemic or local side-effects were reported.