title: Clinical efficacy of aspirin in "desensitised" aspirin-sensitive asthmatics.
abstract: The effect of daily aspirin (ASA) administration after "desensitisation" was studied in 16 aspirin-sensitive asthmatics. Fourteen patients completed the trial; 12 of them also had perennial rhinitis and eight in addition suffered from chronic headache. During 4 weeks of daily treatment with 600 mg of ASA a marked reduction of the nasal symptoms score was noticed in 8/12 patients and head pain score was significantly decreased in 6/8 patients when compared with the 4-week non-ASA period. Daily aspirin resulted in decreases in both the mean asthma score and in daily beta-agonist usage in 7/14 patients, and 10/13 patients showed a decrease in bronchial responsiveness to inhaled histamine (geometric mean of provocative concentration of histamine 1.8 and 5.8 mg/ml, respectively. In four patients we noticed untoward epigastric symptoms. A decrease in thrombocyte counts was observed during ASA treatment. Our study suggests that daily aspirin administration after "desensitisation" may be helpful in the management of some ASA-sensitive asthmatics.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001241:Aspirin / Q000276:immunology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001249:Asthma / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000276:immunology*; D003888:Desensitization, Immunologic; D004342:Drug Hypersensitivity / Q000517:prevention & control*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged
chemical_list: D001241:Aspirin