[Conclusions of an international symposium held at Aachen on 4 and 5 May about mucolytic agents, especially oral acetylcysteine].

The usefulness of mucolytics for clinical purposes remains controversial. Although many authors agree with the opinion that some of these drugs, above all aerosols of acetylcysteine at convenient dosages, provided they are associated with beta 2-sympathomimetics, may be useful in the treatment of bronchial obstruction due to inspissated mucus in excess in the lumens, many specialists remain reluctant concerning the activity of mucolytics given by mouth. It seemed therefore interesting to organize an international meeting on this topic. First of all, I would like to pay honour to the initiative of the Zambon Laboratories who organized this symposium. I would also like to express my gratitude for having been involved in the preparation of the programme of these days and having been asked to present the general conclusions of the meeting. The following pages are devoted to these conclusions. We shall repeatedly make reference to the works which were presented in extenso during the meeting. The general report of the symposium will shortly appear in a special supplement of the European Journal of Respiratory Diseases. It seems however useful to give at the end of our text the complete list of the presented lectures.