Nebulization treatment with saline compared to bromhexine in treating chronic sinusitis in asthmatic children

Twenty children aged 3 to 14 years with a history of bronchial asthma complicated by chronic sinusitis were studied in a double-blind study. Patients received, at random, over a period of 2 weeks, either 2 ml saline or 2 ml bromhexine (2 mg/ml) t.i.d. by means of a home nebulizer. A significant decline of clinical symptoms during both nebulization treatments as compared to the pretreatment symptom score was observed (mean score of 1.5 +/- 0.7 and 0.5 +/- 0.8, respectively, P less than 0.01). Both types of nebulization were equally efficient in reducing the symptom score. Radiological abnormalities were significantly more reversed after saline nebulization as compared with bromhexine (P less than 0.05), although both treatments showed radiological improvement (P less than 0.01). The present study indicates that nebulization with saline may have some beneficial effect on chronic sinusitis in asthmatic children. Bromhexine was not superior to saline for this purpose.