Clinical Study on Salt Therapy as a Respiratory Remedy
Chervinskaya, A. & Zilber N.(1995) Halotherapy for the Treatment of Respiratory Diseases. Journal of Aerosol Medicine 8(3): 221-232
Sample:
Salt Therapy was administrated in a group of 124 patients (54 males and 70 females) aged from 16 to 62 years with various types of chronic nonspecific pulmonary diseases. In all of the patients (pts), the disease was in the stage of a prolonged exacerbation. Before the treatments 95% of the pts of the main group had been coughing, half of them (47%) had severe attacks of coughing with scanty viscous sputum. Most of the pts (81%) suffered from attacks of asthma so that one third of them used combined medication to control it. Auscultation revealed harsh and weakened breathing, and dry rales in 58% of the patients.
Methodology:
60% of the pts received a base therapy (beta-agonists, theophyllines, chromoglycate natrii, corticosteroids, etc.), the effect of which was insufficient and did not allow to achieve a complete remission. The pts had not taken any antibacterial medicine.
The control group was represented by 15 pts (7 females and 8 males) aged from 18 to 56 years. Placebo course consisted only of 10 procedures of musical psychosuggestive program with slides demonstration in an ordinary room.
The pts’ condition was assessed by daily medical supervision, with functional and laboratory tests made before and after Salt Therapy, as well as every 7th day during the treatments. Series of examinations in the control group consisted of the tests similar to those for the main group of pts.
| Disease | Number of patients |
| Bronchial asthma
Mild Moderate Severe Chronic bronchitis Nonobstructive Obstructive Bronchiectasis Cystic fibrosis |
87
32 34 21 26 12 14 6 5 |
| Total | 124 |
Results:
After 3-5 sessions of Salt Therapy 70-80% of the pts (according to nosology) presented some improvements: expectoration of good amount of sputum- it was less tenacious and easier to discharge, better auscultator pattern of the lungs, less frequent occurrence of cough attacks or respiratory discomfort. Some pts with severe and moderate bronchial asthma (BA) (35 patients – 27% of the total number) experienced difficulty in brining up the phlegm and worsening of cough during 3-4 days after 3-4 sessions. These manifestations seem to be due to the temporal bad bronchial drainage resulting from hyper secretion of mucus and discharge of old clots of secretion from bronchi of smaller diameter. Expiratory dyspnea appeared or became more pronounced in 18 patients (15% or cases) at different periods of Salt Therapy. Those were mainly the patients with exercise-induced asthma and aspirin-induced asthma. None of the pts complained of bad condition during the Salt Therapy procedures.
By the end of the course of Salt Therapy all the pts felt better they slept well, had no fatigue or weakness, and their nervous system stabilized. Clinical symptoms analysis demonstrated that the number of asthma attacks and respiratory discomfort cases decreased significantly as compared to the initial ones (81% and 52%, respectively, p<0.001). The number of asthma attacks controlled by combined medication also decreased (32% and 2%, respectively, p<0.001).
The cases of coughing occurred more rarely (95% and 70%, respectively, p<0.001), coughing became easier and more productive, the amount of sputum reduced, it became mucousal. The number of the patients with signs of vasomotor rhinitis decreased (61% and 24%, respectively p<0.001).
Corticosteroids were discontinued in 50 % (11 pts) of the pts with corticosteroid therapy (22 pts). Those were the cases when inhaled corticosteroids were prescribed as anti-inflammatory agents. In 7 pts it was possible to reduce the dose, 41 pts (60% of pts who inhaled beta- agonists) were able to discontinue beta-agonists or reduce the dose. Reduction (or cancellation) in bronchodilator and inhaled corticosteroid consumption was an indicator of clinical benefit.
Conclusion:
The clinical state of 85% of the pts with mild and moderate BA, 75 % with severe BA, 98%- with chronic bronchitis, bronchiectasis and cystic fibrosis improved after Salt Therapy. The pts were examined 6 and 12 months after the first Salt Therapy course. No aggravations of the disease were seen from the 3rd to the 12th month. The average duration of the remission was 7.6-0.9 m. Most of the pts (60%) used no medication and sought no medical advice.
LIST OF STUDIES
Halotherapy medical description
PUBMED STUDIES
Chervinskaya AV, Zilber NA. Halotherapy for treatment of respiratory diseases J Aerosol Med. 1995 Fall;8(3):221-32. Complete study is available PMID: 10161255 [PubMed – indexed for MEDLINE]
Gorbenko PP, Adamova IV, Sinitsyna TM. [Bronchial hyperreactivity to the inhalation of hypo- and hyperosmolar aerosols and its correction by halotherapy] Ter Arkh. 1996; 68(8):24-8. Russian. Abstract is available PMID: 9019826 [PubMed – indexed for MEDLINE]
Grinshtein IuI, Shestovitskii VA, Kuligina-Maksimova AV. [Clinical significance of cytological characteristics of bronchial inflammation in obstructive pulmonary diseases] Ter Arkh. 2004; 76(3):36-9. Russian. Abstract is available PMID: 15108456 [PubMed – indexed for MEDLINE]
Grigor’eva NV. [Halotherapy in combined non-puncture therapy of patients with acute purulent maxillary sinusitis] Vestn Otorinolaringol. 2003;(4):42-4. Russian. Abstract is available PMID: 13677023 [PubMed – indexed for MEDLINE]
Maev EZ, Vinogradov NV. [Halotherapy in the combined treatment of chronic bronchitis patients] Voen Med Zh. 1999 Jun; 320(6):34-7, 96. Russian. Abstract is available PMID: 10439712 [PubMed – indexed for MEDLINE]
Chernenkov RA, Chernenkova EA, Zhukov GV. [The use of an artificial microclimate chamber in the treatment of patients with chronic obstructive lung diseases] Vopr Kurortol Fizioter Lech Fiz Kult. 1997 Jul-Aug ;( 4):19-21. Russian. Abstract is available PMID: 9424823 [PubMed – indexed for MEDLINE]
Chervinskaia AV. [The scientific validation and outlook for the practical use of halo-aerosol therapy] Vopr Kurortol Fizioter Lech Fiz Kult. 2000 Jan-Feb ;( 1):21-4. Review. Russian. Abstract is available PMID: 11094875 [PubMed – indexed for MEDLINE]
Farkhutdinov UR, Abdrakhmanova LM, Farkhutdinov RR. [Effects of halotherapy on free radical oxidation in patients with chronic bronchitis] Klin Med (Moscow). 2000;78(12):37-40. Russian. Abstract is available PMID: 11210350 [PubMed – indexed for MEDLINE]
