[Controlled clinical study of the treatment of chronic bronchitis with guacetisal]

Controlled clinical research has been carried out on the activity and tolerance of a new active principle, guacetisal (Broncaspin) obtained from the esterification of acetylsalicylic acid with guaiacol, in the treatment of chronic bronchitis. The drug's therapeutic response was evaluated with respect to that of bromexine. Guacetisal was generally well tolerated. It had no unwanted side-effects on the main haematochemical parameters or on the function of organs and systems. It was found to have considerable therapeutic effectiveness, at times even superior to that of the control drug, with respect to general symptomatology and at respiratory system level. It produced early, lasting reduction in temperature, heart frequency, dyspnoea, duration of expirium and in the intensity and number of coughing attacks. It also led to an appreciable improvement in thoracic objectivity and the X-ray picture. Variations in respiratory functional parameters were of considerable interest and from these it is concluded that guacetisal exerts its polyvalent activity to a proportionately higher extent in the bronchial districts more seriously involved in the inflammatory process, inducing an elective improvement in bronchial permeability, a reduction in total pulmonary resistances--with consequent tendency for ventilation-perfusion relations to normalise--as well as an improvement in gas exchanges and patient oxygenation.