[Bronchial asthma in childhood. Therapy with fenoterol and ipratropium bromide powder]

In a double blind randomized study during a period of 2 weeks we compared the therapeutic effectiveness and side effects of IK-6-Inhaletten (0.1 mg Fenoterol + 0.04 mg Ipratropiumbromide) and SCH 1000-Inhaletten (0.2 mg Ipratropiumbromide) in 39 children (4-14 years) suffering from mild, moderate or severe asthma bronchiale. All measurements were performed with a whole body plethysmograph. In contrast to SCH 1000-inhalation after inhalation of IK-6-Inhaletten, we found a good improvement of the total airway resistance Rtot, the specific airway resistance SRaw and the forced exspiratory volume FEV1. Especially SRaw was significantly diminished compared to the less effective SCH 1000-inhalation. IK-6-inhalation allowed to decrease the amount of bronchospasmolytic therapy in our group of patients. We did not observe any severe side effects after inhalation of IK-6 or SCH 1000. In summary, we recommend the application of the IK-6-Inhaletten in children suffering from mild and moderate asthma bronchiale.