clarinex d
Patients and parents ofasthmatic TEENren should be given information and education toenable them to take control of their disease. Drugs used in the long term treatment of asthma can be broadlyclassified into prophylactic and rescue medications. Prophylactictreatment is primarily with anti inflammatory agents and inhaledcorticosteroids are the first line therapy. Supplementary treat ment is added and the dose of corticosteroids is increased according to the severity of asthma in a stepwise fashion. Short acting agonists are used as and when needed forepisodic bronchoconstriction. Topical corticosteroids such as budesonide are effective anti inflammatory agents. The onset of effect is slow over a few days and the maximum benefit may not be achieved for a few weeks. Adverse effects are mainly local such as oropharyngeal candidia sis. Systemic corticosteroids such as oral prednisolone are givenas short courses for exacerbation although in severe asthma regular medication may be indicated. Side effects include hyper tension hyperglycaemia osteoporosis cataracts obesity thinningof skin muscle weakness and suppression of the hypothalamicpituitaryadrenal axis. Sodium clarinex d and nedocromil sodium are not as potentas steroids but may be useful where there are concerns aboutsteroid side effects such as in TEENren. In the last few years anti leukotriene agents have become available. These block the effectsof leukotrienes and therefore act as anti inflammatory agents. These are also less potent than inhaled steroids. The place ofanti leukotriene agents has not been clearly established. Theycould be used as first line therapy in mild persistent asthmaandor in patients with moderate to severe asthma receivinghigh dose inhaledoral corticosteroids. In severe asthma steroiddependentsteroid insensitive immunosuppressive drugs such asmethotrexate and cyclosporin could be used. Regular monitoringis required and they should only be used clarinex d the supervisionof an asthma specialist. Long acting bronchodilators include long acting 2 agonists suchas salmeterol given as inhaler and sustained release theophylline given as oral therapy. They are useful as regular adjuvant therapyto inhaled steroids in moderate persistent asthma and are par ticularly effective for nocturnal symptoms. They should not beused as prophylactic medication on their own. The therapeuticindex of theophylline is low and serious side effects such asseizures tachyarrhythmias and central nervous system stimula tion can occur with high doses. Short acting 2 agonist such clarinex d salbutamol are effective bron chodilators used to treat acute symptoms during episodic bron choconstriction or clarinex d exacerbation mostly through the inhaledroute. In high doses they may cause cardiovascular stimulation tremor and clarinex d Anticholinergics such as ipratropiumbromide are less potent than the 2 agonists but may have anadditive effect. The term rhinoconjunctivitis implies inflammation of the nasaland conjunctival mucosa. Therefore treatment with anti inflam matory drugs such as steroids and sodium cromoglycate is effec tive. However rhinitis is mainly expressed through vascularengorgement and histamine is the most important mediator. Thus antihistamines are also effective in this disease. Antihistamines prevent and relieve symptoms such as sneezing itching rhinorrhoea and excessive lacrimation but are less effec tive in relieving nasal blockage. For chronic clarinex d second generation antihistamines such as loratidine or cetirizine shouldbe given orally whereas topical intranasal antihistamine may beindicated for intermittent symptoms. Intranasal corticosteroids suppress inflammation and thus reducenasal congestion and rhinorrhoea. They are effective locally withminimal systemic side effects which makes long term therapyacceptable. Local side effects include epistaxis. Systemic steroidsare sometimes used to treat severe rhinoconjunctivitis notresponding adequately to other medications. Sodium cromoglycate and nedocromil sodium used topically areless potent than clarinex d steroids. They may be used in conjunctivitisand for mild to moderate rhinitis especially in TEENren. Anti leukotriene agents may be of value in some patients with rhinitis. An anticholinergic drug ipratropium bromide used topically inthe nose is effective when watery discharge is a prominentsymptom. The available therapeutic strategies to manage allergic diseasesconsist of attempts either to desensitize the atopic individual to agiven allergen or to diminish the ongoing allergic reaction. Anti IgEas a novel therapeutic alternative was based on the premise that atherapy interfering with the binding of IgE molecules clarinex d both high and low affinity receptors should reduce the allergen inducedearly and late asthmatic responses by preventing the release ofmediators from mast cells. In addition this should decrease theamplification of the inflammatory responses mediated by helper T cells by preventing IgE dependent allergen presentation. With the development of techniques to produce MAb a non anaphylactogenic murine MAb that binds to circulating IgE at thesame site as the high affinity receptor has been clarinex d Animportant aspect of the development of this compound was thatthese antibodies do not bind to IgE bound to cells bearing FcRIor the FcRII because the epitope on IgE against which they aredirected is already attached to those receptors and is masked. Consequently the MAb did not attach to cell bound IgE and theanti IgEIgE complex blocked the binding of IgE to its receptors thereby avoiding mast cell or basophil activation. These non anaphylactogenic humanized murine monoclonal anti bodies do not interfere with the production of IgM IgG and IgAby B cells. They express a high degree of isotype specificity andcan therefore selectively neutralize IgE without affecting otherantibody classes. With the clear indication that a MAb that isbound to the FcRI binding region of IgE could influence bothimmediate and late phase allergic responses the stage was set toapply this to the development of a therapy for use in humans.