Summary By means of questionnaires and/or personal inquiry information has been procured on the 503 asthmatic patients seen in the Clinic who were over 15 years of age in 1960. Useful data were obtained for 98,4 % of the series under review. Four hundred and forty‐two of these patients had been treated in the clinic on the lines stated. At the follow‐up 36.8% had been quite symptom‐free the past year or more. Nine point four per cent had occasionally experienced dyspnoea, and some of these also a cough, while 53.8% continued to have asthmatic symptoms. None had died from asthma. The fairly poor result was due partly to the relatively great number of severe cases (42 %) in the series, and partly to the fact that far too many had not been submitted to treatment till after a long period of illness; 37 % after not less than 5 years of illness and 16 % after at least 10 years of illness. It is shown that the chance of obtaining freedom from symptoms is greatest for the patients submitted to early treatment. The prognosis is, moreover, poorest in cases of severe asthma and a familial predisposition to atopic illness; further, in cases with other associated atopic illness and with increasing numbers of manifest allergies, as well as in cases with complicating pollen and/or mold fungus allergy. Finally, a markedly increased tendency towards freedom from symptoms has been demonstrated during the years of puberty. A final evaluation of specific allergologic treatment of asthma in childhood will probably require prolonged experiments of treatment, using the double‐blind technique.

Thirty-one patients with cystic fibrosis of varying severity were examined by echocardiography. Right ventricular dimension (RVD) was above upper normal limit in 14 patients and right ventricular dimension index (RVD index) was higher than the upper normal limit in 11 patients. Furthermore, there was a significant relationship between increasing RVD index and 1) decreasing forced vital capacity (FVC) both actual test results and average 6 months values; and 2) decreasing peak-expiratory flow rate (PEFR) both actual test results and average 6 months values. This observation suggests a persistent heart involvement. Five patients had either heart failure and/or electrocardiographic evidence of right ventricular abnormality. These patients had increased RVD index and one patient with the highest RVD index died 8 weeks after the examination. The present study has shown the usefulness of echocardiographic measurement of right ventricular dimension and of septal motion in assessing cor pulmonale, before development of electrocardiographic abnormalities and right heart failure.

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Six preterm infants with PDA received 14 treatments with indomethacin 0.2 mg/kg intravenously. Auscultatory and echocardiographic assessment indicated closure of the duct in 2, partial closure in 2, and no effect in 2 infants. The mean serum concentration of indomethacin was: 15 min after the first injection 1 314 ng/ml, after 1 hour 970 ng/ml, after 6 hours 718 ng/ml, and after 24 hours 388 ng/ml. The mean half-life of indomethacin in the serum was 20 hours (range 9-50 hours). Side effects in all infants were hyponatraemia, decreased urinary output, decreased urinary sodium excretion, and weight gain. One infant had transient thrombocytopenia and gastrointestinal haemorrhage. By intravenous administration of indomethacin in a dose of 0.2 mg/kg to preterm infants a sufficiently high serum concentration is obtained shortly after the injection. To maintain a high serum concentration for a longer period it is recommended to give a second dose of 0.2 mg/kg after 6 hours and if necessary a third dose of 0.1 mg/kg 24 hours after the first dose.

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