Prevention and treatment of reactions to NSAIDs

Avoidance of ASA and other NSAIDs prevents the reactions and careful attention to clinical history along with patient education are important. However, blanket advice to avoid all NSAIDs is no longer reasonable. Except for AERD and chronic urticaria, cross-reactivity with other NSAIDs does not occur. A physician can definitively prove this by giving the patient another NSAID in their office and observing no reaction. Furthermore, for patients with AERD and chronic urticaria, they can be given the new selective COX-2 inhibitors (rofecoxib and celecoxib) without any cross-reactivity. All AERD patients can be desensitized to ASA and treated with ASA indefinitely. However, ASA desensitization in chronic urticaria is not possible. Underlying mild and moderate AERD responds well to topical and systemic corticosteroids and leukotriene modifiers. However, the severe forms of the disease should be desensitized to ASA and treated with this drug on a long term basis. In the future, new drugs that prevent eosinophil activation and chemotaxis or enhance eosinophil apoptosis are likely to be useful. Specific blockers of the second cystLT receptor would also be useful. Ultimately as the genetics of these heterogeneous disorders are unraveled, gene substitution therapy may be the ultimate answer.