Roanoke Times Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc. DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 6, 1991 TAG: 9102060044 SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A3 EDITION: METRO SOURCE: Los Angeles Times DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, releasing the first comprehensive guidelines for diagnosis and treatment of asthma, said traditional therapy has relied on symptomatic relief of constriction through the use of bronchodilator drugs that are inhaled.
These medications temporarily ease the wheezing, coughing, chest tightness and breathing difficulties that accompany an asthma attack by relaxing the bronchial muscles, thus opening the airways.
But an expert panel convened by the institute, part of the National Institutes of Health, said that for long-term control of the disease, it was more important to use anti-inflammatory agents to relieve swelling, in addition to bronchodilators.
"We now know that inflammation is the predominant feature in asthma," said Dr. Albert Sheffer, chairman of the panel and a clinical professor of medicine at Harvard University Medical School. "Reducing and hopefully preventing inflammation, not just reversing bronchial constriction, is central to asthma management."
The report, written by an expert panel under the direction of the institute's National Asthma Education Program, will be distributed to more than 150,000 health care professionals nationwide "as quickly as possible," said Dr. Claude Lenfant, director of the institute.
"This report is very significant and even historic," Lenfant said. "It represents the perspectives of allergists, pulmonologists, nurses and behavioral scientists. I believe it will have a profound impact on the way asthma is treated in this country."
by CNB