Speleotherapy: a special kind of climatotherapy, its role in respiratory rehabilitation.

Speleotherapy, the use of the climate of caves, is an accepted but not widely known therapeutic measure in the treatment of chronic obstructive airway diseases. This study summarizes the therapeutic experiences of more than 4000 patients who were treated in a 10-year period in a hospital-cave complex in Tapolca, Hungary. A sharp and long-lasting clinical improvement and a significant recovery from airway obstruction could be observed in the overwhelming majority of patients. It is established that the microclimate of some caves can beneficially affect these disorders, but the cave should be considered as an optimal environment for complex respiratory rehabilitation.