[Ketotifen in the treatment of chronic urticaria and angioneurotic edema].

26 male and female patients, suffering chronic idiopathic urticaria and angioneurotic edema, are treated with a new synthase molecule, Ketotifen, which offers a polivalent action. Among the patients there was a great majority of females (61,5%) their mean age being 35 years. The mean duration of this urticaria was 57,3 months, being even longer in male patients. In eleven of these cases there was a previous history of atopy in their families, and sixteen patients had some episodes of atopy in the past. All the patients were treated with ketotifen, in 1 mg. tablets, usually administered before meals, with partial doses no higher than 1 mg. 3 times a day, and a total dosage ranging from 28 to 180 mg. With this dosage we attained satisfactory results in 80,8% of the cases, with complete curation in 16 patients and a remarkable improvement of symptoms in 5 patients. In only two of the cases there was no response to the treatment. Tolerance to this drug was excellent in 88,6% of the patients. For all these reasons we consider ketotifen as an excellent therapeutic agent in Chronic Idiopathic Urticaria and Angioneurotic Edema, especially in those cases in which traditional therapies have failed. We also think that ketotifen, in association with other drugs, for example, terbutaline ( SAIHAN ) may solve, at least in some patients, the therapeutical problem that these conditions present. Furthermore, the nearly complete absence of important secondary effects, as observed in our study, makes it the treatment of choice in patients with gastric intolerance to drugs, or in those patients that, owing to their occupational activities, might be exposed to a high risk of laboral accidents.