Valutazione dell'efficacia di ambroxol compresse effervescenti nel trarramento delle affezioni catarrali delle vie areree superiori: studio controllato vs n-acetilcisteina. [Evaluation of efficacy of Ambroxol effervescent tabs in the treatment of catarrhal diseases of upper respiratory tract: Controlled study vs N-acetylcysteine]

In a group of 30 patients affected by catarrhal diseases of upper respiratory tract (rhinopharyngitis, rhino-otitis and rhinosinusitis) the authors evaluated the effects of a cycle of ten days of therapy with Ambroxol (120 mg/die) or N-Acetilcysteine (1200 mg/die) (both in effervescent composition) on symptoms patterns, on tympanometric pictures and nasal mucociliary transport time (tTMC). At the end of treatment with Ambroxol we noted a global improvement of clinical parameters, specifically nasal obstruction and nasal secretion data. Also tympanometric curves (37% of normalization) and nasal mucociliary transport time greatly improved. This last parameter shows a significant improvement (from 23.8 to 16.0 minutes) in the group of patients affected by rhinosinusitis. Likewise to an improvement of tTMC we assisted to a similar finding about rheological characteristic of nasal mucus that from thick turn into fluid. In spite (global efficacy of N-Acetylcysteine on symptoms, any drastic improvement of single parameters didn't happen. Particularly, the treatment with N-Acetylcysteine did not induce any improvement neither of the tympanometric pictures nor of the tTMC and nasal secretion features. Tolerability profile was excellent for both drugs. Basing on our findings we can consider that Ambroxol, effervescent tabs, is a valid treatment for common catharral diseases of upper respiratory tract