Background Use of a nebulizer facilitates rapid administration of high doses of drug, which is desirable for patients presenting with acute severe asthma. Breath-enhanced jet nebulizers direct the patient’s air flow through the nebulizer handset during inhalation producing aerosol output with a more favorable respirable profile. SideStream Plus (SS+; Philips Respironics) and Nebutech (NB; Salte...

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is common in older people, with an estimated prevalence of 10% in the US population aged ≥75 years. Inhaled medications are the cornerstone of treatment for COPD and are typically administered by one of three types of devices, ie, pressurized metered dose inhalers, dry powder inhalers, and nebulizers. However, age-related pulmonary changes may negati...

Most physicians and respiratory therapists are knowledgeable of the use of aerosolized drugs, but many are less familiar with the performance characteristics of the nebulizer. In fact, the general opinion is that the performance of the nebulizer is relatively unimportant. However, there is accumulating evidence that the nebulizer itself does make a difference. The decision to replace a good per...

BACKGROUND Inhaled dry powder mannitol has established in vivo therapeutic efficacy for enhancing mucociliary function. However, a single dose necessitates multiple inhalations of a sizeable powder mass. Nebulization of mannitol by vibrating mesh devices has recently been shown in vitro to impart similar dosing in a comparable or lesser treatment time. Nevertheless, the limited solubility of ma...

BACKGROUND Aerosol therapy in preterm infants is challenging, as a very small proportion of the drug deposits in the lungs. AIM Our aim was to compare efficiency of standard devices with newer, more efficient aerosol delivery devices. METHODS Using salbutamol as a drug marker, we studied two prototypes of the investigational eFlow(®) nebulizer for babies (PARI Pharma GmbH), a jet nebulizer ...

IMPORTANCE OF THE FIELD Since the 1950s, ultrasonic nebulizers have played an important role in pulmonary drug delivery. As the process in which aerosol droplets are generated is independent and does not require breath-actuation, ultrasonic nebulizers, in principle, offer the potential for instantaneously fine-tuning the dose administered to the specific requirements of a patient, taking into a...

The aim of the present study was to characterize amphotericin B aerosols nebulized by ultrasonic and jet nebulizers and to study their deposition and pharmacokinetics in patients with pulmonary mycetoma. The aerodynamic behaviour and pulmonary deposition of amphotericin B particles were measured using a direct isotopic method based on stable labelling of the drug with 99mTc. Each nebulizer was ...

Aerosolized bronchodilators have been the first line therapy for exacerbation of COPD (ECOPD) to relieve bronchoconstriction and shortness of breath. Administration of bronchodilators in acute settings is commonly done with small-volume nebulizers, which deliver higher inhaled drug mass, compared to other devices such as pressurized metered-dose inhaler (pMDI) and dry powder inhaler (DPI).1 Sma...

The effect of nebulizer solution temperature and dilution air humidity on the size and solute concentration of aqueous aerosol droplets were studied. Four combinations of jet-nebulizers with air compressors or oxygen sources and one ultrasonic nebulizer were tested. The temperature to which the nebulizer solution of each system fell during generation was measured. The nebulizers were then kept ...