Clinical efficacy of triamcinolone acetonide combined with cetylpyridinium chloride in treatment of mild to moderate erosive oral lichen planus

Objective To observe the clinical efficacy and safety of triamcinolone acetonide solution combined with cipyrronium chloride tablets in the treatment of mild to moderate erosive oral lichen planus. Methods A total of 100 patients diagnosed with mild/moderate erosive oral lichen planus were treated with topical application of triamcinolone acetonide solution in combination with cipyrronium lozenges （test group） or triamcinolone acetonide solution alone （control group）. VAS scores, clinical symptom scores and safety indicators were recorded before, 2 weeks and 4 weeks after treatment. Results The analysis of variance of repeated measures data of the VAS scores showed that the interaction effect （F = 1.680, P = 0.382） and the main effect of treatment （F = 0.749, P = 0.391） were not statistically significant, and the time effect （F = 190.641, P < 0.001） was statistically significant. The VAS scores in two groups showed a decreasing tendency after corresponding treatment. The interaction between treatment effect and time effect of clinical symptom scores was not statistically significant （F = 1.198, P = 0.296）, the main effect of treatment （F = 4.758, P = 0.034） and time effect （F = 268.249, P < 0.001） were statistically significant. After corresponding treatment, the clinical symptom score in the test group was lower than that in the control group, and both showed a gradual decrease after treatment. Salivary fungal culture at 4 weeks after treatment showed that the infection rate of Candida in the control group was significantly higher than that in the test group （23.4% vs. 6.1%, P = 0.016）. Conclusions Application of triamcinolone acetonide solution combined with cipiromonium chloride tablets yields high short-term clinical efficacy and safety in the treatment of mild to moderate erosive oral lichen planus. Cipiromonium chloride may play a certain role in the prevention of fungal infection.