A STUDY OF AMILORIDE CHLORHYDRATE NEBULIZED BY OXYGEN IN THE TREATMENT OF CYSTIC-FIBROSIS

Bronchial inhalation of amiloride chlorohydrate has been suggested for a number of years in the treatment of the pulmonary disease in cystic fibrosis. However, physiotherapy remains invaluable in the struggle in containing pulmonary infections in this disorder. Physiotherapy may lead to a transient fall in the arterial oxygen as can sessions of nebuliser therapy which preceeds physiotherapy. The originality of the system studied and proposed here for the administration of medication depends on an electronic control which guarantees that there is the nebulisation of a constant volume of medication with each inspiration. Triggered by inspiration the active principle nebulised is perfectly co-ordinated to the inspiratory cycle. A comparative chromatography carried out in this slides of silica-gel have enabled us to verify the absence of any degradation of the active principle contained in the nebuliser solution during the ten minutes period of aerosol therapy. Thus a quantification of the administered dose of Amiloride Chlorohydrate is made possible. In association with oxygen it enables an efficacious preparation of respiratory physiotherapy to children. As the expiratory tubing ends in a filter the fraction of the oxygen inhaled by the patient remains verv high; 80% (V/V) of the medication is emitted in the form of liquid particles whose diameter lies between 0.5 and 5 micrometres. In practice in order to humidify the sputum and to restore the oxymetry before the physiotherapy sessions, it seemed to us an interesting possibility to administer Amiloride Chlorohydrate and oxygen simultaneously. This is achieved in hospital by using wall-mounted oxygen (at a gas pressure of 3.5 bars). The nebulisation of rhe Amiloride Chlorohydrate is assured by the gas travelling through the nebuliser which contains the medication and there is also a mouth piece. Nebulisation which is triggered to inspiration plays a useful pleasant role in children from 4 to 5 onwards.