THE EFFECT OF SELENIUM SUPPLEMENTATION ON LUNG FUNCTIONS IN PATIENTS WITH IDIOPATHIC PULMONARY FIBROSIS

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a common aggressive form of the idiopathic interstitial pneumonias of unknown cause. It is chronic, progressive, irreversible, fibrosing and lethal lung disease with a poor prognosis. The cardinal symptom of IPF is dyspnea; however, other pulmonary and extra-pulmonary symptoms are often present. The study aims to implement a novel pharmaceutical approach by administration of selenium accompanied with prednisone in an attempt to improve clinical outcome of IPF patients to decrease other medications toxicities and improve patients’ quality of life. This study was conducted at Kasr El-Ainy Chest Hospitals, from April 2012 to March 2014.The work included forty clinically and radiologically diagnosed cases of IPF and twenty healthy controls,   they were subdivided into Group   I:  twenty IPF patients received; N-acetyl cysteine (NAC) 600 mg/3 times (for 3 months).Group II: twenty IPF patients received: Selenium 200 mcg/day (for 3 months). All cases subjected to medical history, clinical examination, plain X-ray chest, and High resolution computed tomography (HRCT), 6-minute walk test, and spirometry. All patients signed informed consents. The comparison of Selenium group with NAC  revealed a significant increase in both of forced vital capacity (FVC) and  Forced expiratory volume in the first second (FEV1) (p= 0.008, 0.016, respectively), using a Mann-Whitney test. There was no remarkable adverse drug reactions observed in both groups, and no serious drug interactions. This study showed that selenium supplementation in IPF patients’ significantly improved pulmonary functions, which reflect an antioxidant capacity. In addition patients’ clinical presentation shown as significant decrease of coughing and dyspnea on exertion.