Pharmacotherapy of impaired mucociliary clearance in non-CF pediatric lung disease. A review of the literature.

Mucoactive agents are used to treat a variety of lung diseases involving impaired mucociliary clearance or mucus hypersecretion. The mucoactive agents studied most frequently are N-acetylcysteine (NAC), recombinant human DNase (rhDNase), and hypertonic saline. Studies on the efficacy of these have been mainly conducted in adults, and in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF). The exact role of mucoactive agents in children with non-CF lung disease is not well established. We present an overview of the current literature reporting clinical outcome measures of treatment with NAC, rhDNase, and hypertonic saline in children.