[Therapeutic effectiveness of bamifylline in elderly patients with COPD].

We studied the clinical and instrumental modifications of 20 patients (mean age: 67.95 +/- 1.23 years; 13 males, 7 females) suffering from COPD (less than 65% theoretical FEV1), during treatment with bamiphylline. At basal time, and after 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6 months of therapy we performed a clinical and spirometric examination. All spirometric parameters (FEV1, VC, MEF25-75, Tiffeneau Index) increased significantly (p less than 0.01 - ANOVA1) since the first control performed after 1 month of treatment. This trend was confirmed in the successive controls. Analogue results were observed for emogasanalytical (P-CO2-PO2) and clinical (cough and dyspnoea) parameters. During the experimental research we did not observe side effects due to the xanthine-derivative (bamiphylline) under study or modifications of the main haematochemical tests. Therefore we believe that bamiphylline must be considered an effective therapeutic tool for COPD therapy.