Prevention of bronchopulmonary complications by ambroxol after thoracotomy in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease / 中华老年医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To evaluate the effects of ambroxol on prevention of bronchopulmonary complications after thoracotomy in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease(COPD).MethodsTotal 161 elderly patients aged ≥70 years with COPD undergoing thoracotomy were randomly allocated to two groupsambroxol group (300 mg/d,6 d) and placebo group as control.Pulmonary complications were evaluated by clinical symptoms,radiographic changes,and blood gas analysis. Results The incidence rates of atelectasis were 8.6％ in ambroxol group and 28.8％ in placebo group,respectively.The PaO2 values after surgery in ambroxol group decreased more than in placebo group (P＜0.05) compared with the preoperative values.Side effects were not found in all patients.Conclusions Ambroxol should be considered as an alternative pharmacologic approach for the prevention of post-thoracotomy pulmonary complications in the elderly patients with COPD.