Palliativpflege und Medizin

Abstrakt

The Point on N-acetylcysteine in Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis Treatment

Rindone E and Rosset L

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is still a non-curable disease. The suggested therapy consists of Pirfenidone combined with other drugs like azathioprine, and acetylcysteine. The New England Journal of Medicine published a new study that goes against the common use of N-acetylcysteine (NAC) to treat IPF patient. There are other studies that went in favor of N-acetylcysteine. The present study reviews the entire developments and sums up the reality by affirming that new studies should be done to demonstrate whether the NAC should be administered in combination with Pirfenidone or not, as the last study did not clarify this point.