In a double-blind randomized trial, 40 patients with acute severe asthma were given either nebulized salbutamol, 5 mg, or salbutamol, 5 mg mixed with ipratropium bromide 500 micrograms, on admission to hospital and again two hours later. There was no significant difference between the mean peak flows of the two treatment groups at any time. However, two hours after each treatment, there were fe...

BACKGROUND Until recently, the only available lung-protective treatment option for carbon dioxide removal due to severe, refractory status asthmaticus has been extracorporeal pump-driven membrane oxygenation (ECMO). Pumpless extracorporeal lung assist (pECLA) may serve as an alternative therapy for these patients. CASE REPORT A 42-year-old woman presented with an acute exacerbation of asthma ...

Altho,ugh over 200 fatal cases of asthma have been reported with detailed microscopic findings (Unger, 1945) the train of events leading to death in status asthmaticus is still not fully understood. The obscurity is largely due to the inherent difficulty in assessing the relative importance of the pathological changes found, but has been increased by the fact that not all the patients whose cas...

A trial was conducted of continuous nebulised salbutamol and oral once a day prednisolone in a group of 11 children with status asthmaticus (group A) and compared with a conventional protocol comprising aminophylline infusion and intravenous hydrocortisone every six hours in a matched control group (group B). Monitoring by a clinical asthma score, pulse oximetry (oxygen saturation, SaO2), and p...

Acute bronchial asthmatic episodes represent one of the most common respiratory emergencies in medical practice. Its maximum expression "status asthmaticus", is an entity of low incidence in our medium, still it is a risk to the physical integrity of the patient. The management of an acute attack of asthma can be focused on doing away with the bronchial spasm and decreasing the inflammatory eff...

Cayton, R. M., and Howard, P. (1973). Thorax, 28, 567-573. Plasma cortisol and the use of hydrocortisone in the treatment of status asthmaticus. Plasma cortisol, intravenous synacthen tests of adrenal function, arterial blood gases, and spirometric tests of respiratory function were measured in patients with bronchial asthma during clinically stable periods and during status asthmaticus. Intrav...

The word asthma is derived from a Greek word meaning difficulty in breathing. The clinical expression of asthma varies from a mild intermittent wheeze or cough to severe chronic obstruction that can restrict normal activity. Acute asthma attacks are triggered by a variety of stimuli, including exposure to allergens or cold air, exercise, and upper respiratory tract infections. Recently, a numbe...

The present study was undertaken to determine if beta-agonists delivered by nebulizer provide better clinical responses than MDI therapy in status asthmaticus. We divided 28 hospitalized asthmatic patients into three groups. Group 1 received albuterol by MDI with InspirEase. Group 2 received nebulized albuterol. Group 3 received nebulized metaproterenol. Both nebulizer regimens resulted in sign...

It is still debated whether alien plants benefit from being mycorrhizal, or if engaging in the symbiosis constrains their establishment and spread in new regions. We analyzed the association between mycorrhizal status of alien plant species in Germany and their invasion success. We compared whether the representation of species with different mycorrhizal status (obligate, facultative, or non-my...

The potent inhalational anesthetic agents are used on a daily basis to provide intraoperative anesthesia. Given their beneficial effects on airway tone and reactivity, they also have a role in the treatment of status asthmaticus that is refractory to standard therapy. Although generally not of clinical significance, these agents can affect various physiological functions. The potent inhalationa...