INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

Nowadays powerful development of pharmacology and industrial production of medicines encouraged growth of treatment by medication. Simplicity of application, availability and rapid effect provided priority of pharmacotherapy. However, together with therapeutic effect, medicines can cause pathologic conditions that are connected with side effects. Many allergic conditions and autoimmunal processes are caused by medicines. Furthermore treatment by medication does not restore the own defense mechanisms of the body. This point of view makes physicians turn back to the experience of natural healing factors and carry out investigations in order to find medication-free treatment methods.Halotherapy ("halos" in Greek means salt) is one of such methods. Halotherapy is the mode of treatments in a controlled air medium that simulates a natural salt cave microclimate.Treatment in natural salt cave (speleotherapy) has been known for a long time. The efficacy of speleotherapy is associated with the unique cave microclimate. The natural dry sodium chloride aerosol is the major curative factor of the cave microclimate. It is formed by the convective diffusion from salt walls. Other factors such as comfortable temperature and humidity regime, the hypobacterial and allergen-free air environment saturated with aero ions enhance the therapeutic effect.A suggestion that it is the air saturated with saline dust that causes the main curative effect in the speleotherapy of patients with respiratory diseases was first formulated by a Polish physician F.Bochkowsky in 1843. Salt mines are known to be used for therapeutic purposes in many countries, such as Austria (Solzbad-Salzeman), Rumania (Sieged), Poland (Wieliczka), Azerbaijan (Nakhichevan), Kirgizia (Chon-Tous), the Ukraine: Solotvino, (Carpathians); Artiomovsk (Donietsk region) and others. Speleotherapy has been acknowledged as a highly effective medication-free treatment method. It is assumed that during the treatment, the organism adapts to the specific features of the microclimate and alters all its functional systems. However adaptation of the patients who came from different climate areas, travel and transport problems, and limited number of beds kept back its wide spreading. So HT has been worked out.HT is the method of natural therapy, which takes from Speleotherapy the main healing factor - aero dispersed environment saturated with dry sodium chloride aerosol. Halotherapy (HT) is a mode of treatment in a controlled air medium that simulates the natural salt cave microclimate. HT is performed in a special room with salt-coated walls and floor - the Halochamber.Dry sodium chloride aerosol containing particles of 1-5um in size is produced by a special nebulizer and released into the Halochamber. The effect of HT was evaluated in 124 patients with various types of respiratory diseases (bronchial asthma, chronic obstructive and non-obstructive bronchitis, bronchiectasis, cystic fibrosis) in a placebo-controlled clinical trial. HT resulted in significant clinical improvements as measured by various lung function tests (flow-volume loop parameters, body plethysmography, bronchial resistance) compared to placebo(1). Other studies have reported similar benefits in patients with chronic pulmonary disease(2)(3)(4). The Russian Ministry of Health approved the Halocomplex Chamber as a medical device in 1995. Most of the published work on Halotherapy has appeared in Russian journals and publications. Summaries and abstracts in English are contained in the additional information package.