Piperacillin tazobactam with high-frequency chest-wall oscillation is effective to treat acute exacerbations of COPD

According to a new study, piperacillin tazobactam combined with high-frequency chest-wall oscillation (HFCWO) for sputum evacuation is safe and can effectively treat patients with pneumonia in acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AE-COPD). This study was published in the journal, Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine.

This prospective, randomized controlled trial included 92 patients who had been admitted to the hospital with AE-COPD combined with pneumonia. The participants were randomized into two groups, each with 46 participants. The control group where the participants received conventional treatment with oxygen, antibiotics, antispasmodics, antiasthmatic drugs, and phlegmolytic drugs as well as HFCWO; and the intervention group received piperacillin tazobactam along with these treatments.

The results revealed that Piperacillin tazobactam combined with HFCWO for sputum evacuation can effectively shorten the disappearance time of clinical symptoms and hospitalization time of patients who have AE-COPD combined with pneumonia; improve patients’ pulmonary function; increase the IL-2 and IL-10 and decrease the TNF-α, CRP, and PCT levels; and regulate the blood-gas-analysis index, with few adverse effects and high safety .

Therefore, piperacillin tazobactam combined with HFCWO for sputum evacuation is effective to treat pneumonia in AE-COPD.