Tuberc Respir Dis.  1982 Sep;29(3):157-160. 10.4046/trd.1982.29.3.157.

Clinical Effects of Mercaptoethane Sulphonate (MESNA(R)) in Various Respiratory Diseases

• KMID: 2528827
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4046/trd.1982.29.3.157

Abstract

One of the major problems in the management of patients with various respiratory diseases is clearing the airways. Because of thick and tenacious secretions in some cases, mucolytics are as important as bronchodilators in the treatment of pulmonary diseases. Although there are several kinds of mucolytics, no One drug has had quite enough action to eradicate the thick secretions. MESNA is one of the several mucolytics that has been developed recently. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effectiveness of MESNA in the treatment of the thick and tenacious secretions in pulmonary diseases. In addition some sputum specimens were analysed by cytology and bacteriology. MESNA has been used in 29 cases of respiratory diseases; 16 cases for therapeutic and 13 for diagnostic purpose. Diagnosis of the patients are pulmonary tuberculosis in 12 cases, pneumonia in 5 cases, lung abscess and lung cancer in 4 cases respectively. Using the De Vilbiss inhalator, various diluted Mesna solutions (usually 1 : 1 diluted solution) have been used in 29 patients without remarkable complications. During the hospital days, mean daily expectorated volume was checked before and after the MESNA inhalation with the result of 23±11.6 ml(before) and 67±17.7 ml(after). The drug was found to be effective in 62% of the patients. Tolerance was excellent and there were only 3 complications: 2 cases of bronchospasm and one case of blood tinged sputum. Other parameters such as pulmonary function tests and blood gas analysis would be considered for further evaluation of these mucolytic substance in the future.