Rational mucolytic therapy in respiratory diseases: clinical interpretation of pharmacological properties for informed choice

Abstract

Respiratory diseases remain a common group of diseases in the practice of general physicians and pulmonologists. Currently, there are various treatment protocols for patients with respiratory diseases, where one of the pharmacological groups is mucolytic drugs. They affect the physical and chemical properties of sputum by splitting complex mucins, which leads to its liquefaction. Indications for use of drugs of this group are clinical conditions, in which there is a cough with thick, viscous, difficult to detach sputum. The article discusses the possibility of treating several respiratory diseases with mucolytic therapy, provides a comparative characteristic of drugs of this pharmacological group. The clinical and pharmacological effects of erdosteine are discussed in detail: mucolytic, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory. These properties of the drug are extremely important in clinical practice conditions, because in addition to the mucolytic properties themselves, the patient has many adverse processes due to inflammation. All this is associated with additional damaging factors regarding the tissues and may also indicate an increased risk of complications. Thus, the multipurpose effects of the mucolytic erdosteine in various respiratory tract diseases are presented. In addition to acute respiratory viral diseases, the clinical experience of using erdosteine in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is discussed in detail. The most important indicator to assess the effectiveness of drugs used in this disease is the reduction in the number of exacerbations per year and the severity of the course of the exacerbation. The conclusions, which are given according to the results of a number of studies, determine significant advantages in the use of erdosteine as mucolytic therapy.