The combined drug ascoril in the treatment of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease concurrent with coronary heart disease

Aim. To evaluate the clinical efficacy of the combined drug ascoril (Glenmark, India) in patients with grade I-II chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) concurrent with coronary heart disease (CHD). Subjects and methods. Sixty patients, including 12 (20%) women and 48 (80%) men, aged 43 to 68 years (mean age 55.1 +/- 9.9 years), with COPD were examined. The patients were divided into 2 groups. Group 1 used the combined broncholytic and expectorant drug ascoril and Group 2 took mucolytic agent ambroxol. The follow-up period was 7 days. Results. On day 2 of ascoril treatment, all the patients showed a significant reduction in the intensity of cough that was completely relieved in 26 (87%) patients by treatment day 7. Prior to ascoril treatment, heart rate (HR) was 64.4 +/- 5.5 beats/min. A significant increase in HR to 72.7 +/- 10.1 beats/min was observed 20 min after the first drug intake (p < 0.05) and a decrease to 68.6 +/- 10.5 beats/min was seen after 60 min. On treatment day 7, HR was 63.0 +/- 6.5 beats/min, which was similar to that before ascoril treatment (p = 0.6). Conclusion. In the patients with COPD concurrent with CHD, the combined drug ascoril exerts broncholytic and expectorant effects, with no pronounced negative action on HR.