J. Tamaoki, M. Kondo, J. Nakata
Jul 1, 2000
Citations
1
Influential Citations
21
Citations
Quality indicators
Journal
Chest
Abstract
Study objective To determine the effects of a specific thromboxane A 2 (TxA 2 ) receptor antagonist, seratrodast, on asthma control and airway secretions. Design Multicenter, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study. Patients Forty-five patients with mild to moderate asthma who had been continuously expectorating sputum of > 20 g/d. Patients with a current pulmonary infection or taking oral corticosteroids, antibiotics, or mucolytic agents were excluded from the trial. Interventions Following a 2-week run-in period, while pulmonary function, sputum production, and mucociliary function were assessed, patients were assigned to receive seratrodast, 40 mg/d, or placebo for 6 weeks. Measurements and results During the treatment period, the changes in FEV 1 and peak expiratory flow (PEF) were not different between the two patient groups, but there were significant reductions in diurnal variation of PEF (p = 0.034), frequency of daytime asthma symptoms (p = 0.030), and daytime supplemental use of β 2 -agonist (p = 0.032) in the seratrodast group. For sputum analysis, seratrodast treatment decreased the amount of sputum (p = 0.005), dynamic viscosity (p = 0.007), and albumin concentration (p = 0.028), whereas it had no effect on elastic modulus or fucose concentration. Nasal clearance time of a saccharin particle was shortened in the seratrodast group at week 4 (p = 0.031) and week 6 (p = 0.025), compared with the placebo group. Conclusion Blockade of TxA 2 receptor has minimal effects on pulmonary function, but may cause an improvement in mucociliary clearance by decreasing the viscosity of airway secretions.