[Results of continuous treatment (3 years) with disodium cromoglycate of patients with bronchial asthma and spastic bronchitis].

A group including 36 patients with bronchial asthma and 8 with spastic bronchitis have been treated with disodium cromoglycate for a period of 3 years starting with July 1-st, 1978. Eight of these patients also had allergic rhinitis, and in these ones administration of the treatment was also made by nasal application. Partial results have been published after 3 and 18 months of treatment. Of the original 44 patients 23 are still followed and the other 21 had been followed for at least 2 years, an interval which was considered as sufficient for eliminating seasonal variations of the asthmatic manifestations, independent from the treatment applied. The results at 3 years are different from those at 3 months and are relatively similar to those at 18 months. In 41.2% of the cases necessities for steroid therapy had been reduced, and in 30.3% of the cases a durable suppression of corticoid therapy was possible. With regard to bronchial dilators the doses have been diminished in 32.1% of the cases, and completely abandoned in 20.3% of the patients. A synthetic evaluation of clinical and laboratory results showed that these were positive in 68.3% of all cases. The treatment was well tolerated and no undesirable side effects were noted over the period of the treatment.