title: Effect of azithromycin on patients with diffuse panbronchiolitis: retrospective study of 51 cases.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Patients with diffuse panbronchiolitis (DPB) are routinely treated with erythromycin, clarithromycin, and roxithromycin. The clinical effect of azithromycin on DPB has not been confirmed in a large cohort.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The present study was undertaken to investigate the clinical effects of azithromycin on patients with DPB.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fifty-one patients with DPB treated with azithromycin in Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital, China, from July 2001 to April 2007 were analyzed retrospectively. Azithromycin (500 mg a day) was administrated intravenously in the first 1-2 weeks, taken orally (500 mg, once a day) for 3 months, and tapered to 3 times a week for 6-12 months. The patients were followed up until September 1, 2009. The therapeutic effect, according to their clinical and radiological findings, arterial gas analysis, lung function, and sputum bacterium before and after the therapy, was categorized into the following five grades: 1) cured; 2) improved; 3) no response; 4) aggravation, and 5) relapse.
  
  
  RESULTS
  With azithromycin therapy, 14 (27.5%) patients with DPB were completely cured. The symptoms were eliminated to certain degrees for the other 36 cases (70.6%) of DPB. Five-year survival in this cohort was 94.1%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Azithromycin is effective and well tolerated for patients with diffuse panbronchiolitis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory Diseases, Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital, Tongji University School of Medicine, China. lihuiping1958@yahoo.com.cn
authors.forename: Huiping
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.forename: Yuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Xia
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Lan
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Xianghua
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yi
authors.forename: Guojun
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: He
authors.forename: Jiro
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fujita
authors.forename: Dianhua
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Jiang
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D044466:Asian People / Q000208:ethnology; D017963:Azithromycin / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001988:Bronchiolitis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000473:pathology; D002648:Child; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006192:Haemophilus Infections / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D017963:Azithromycin