The role of long-term doxycycline in patients of idiopathic pulmonaryfibrosis: The results of an open prospective trial.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the effect of long term use of doxycycline in IPF patients.


METHODS
Patients of IPF, selected randomly from out patient services and diagnosed on the basis of HRCT chest, were put on doxycycline in an open prospective trial. They were followed up with monitoring of subjective well being along with measurement of pulse rate and arterial oxygen saturation at rest and after a fixed and certain exercise, forced vital capacity, six minutes walk test, St Georges Respiratory questionnaire, and serial chest X-rays.


RESULTS
Out of seven patients put on doxycycline, six of them continued the drug for a mean period of 531.43 (+/- 328.88 days). All the patients tolerated the drug well and had shown uniform subjective and overall objective improvement in all the parameters concerned; the change in the radiological parameter being statistically significant.


CONCLUSIONS
Doxycycline merits an appropriate clinical trial in the management of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. This widely used and relatively safe drug can add a new dimension to the therapeutic regimen. However, further in-depth studies will be required to evaluate its role in the management of IPF.
Bhattacharyya
Parthasarathi
P
Institute of Pulmocare and Research, R. G. Kar Medical College and Hospital, Kolkata, India.
Nag
Saikat
S
Bardhan
Sujan
S
Acharya
Dipabali
D
Paul
Rantu
R
Dey
Rana
R
Ghosh
Malabika
M
Dey
Ratna
R
Saha
Indranil
I