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(Chest. 1998;114:847-853.)
© 1998 American College of Chest Physicians

Four Hours of Continuous Albuterol Nebulization

Ariel Berlinski MD1 and J. Clifford Waldrep PhD2

1 From the Department of Pediatrics, Pulmonology Section, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX.
2 From the Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX.

J. Clifford Waldrep, PhD, Department of Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, Baylor College of Medicine, One Baylor Plaza, Houston, TX 77030

Background and objectives: Continuous albuterol nebulization (CAN) is a therapeutic modality available to treat status asthmaticus. Currently, CAN may be administered using a large-volume nebulizer (LVN) or a small-volume nebulizer attached to an infusion pump or refilled as needed. Few data are available regarding the reproducibility of aerosol characteristics during CAN. In this study, we determined the aerodynamic profile, drug output (DO), DO in respirable range (RD), solution output (SO), and changes in reservoir's albuterol concentration (AR) hourly during 4 hours of CAN.

Design: A modified Puritan-Bennett 1600 jet nebulizer was tested with a large reservoir (LR; 250 mL), medium reservoir (MR; 45 mL), and small reservoir with infusion pump (SRP; 18 mL). We used 100minus, 40minus, and 4-mL initial fill volumes (with 10-mL/h infusion for SRP) of 1 mg/mL albuterol solution for the LR, MR, and SRP, respectively. Particle size distribution and DO consistency were determined by impaction and spectrophotometric analysis (275 nm). We also determined albuterol mass output. The SO was determined by gravimetric technique.

Results: The PBsj produced a heterodisperse aerosol with a median mass aerodynamic diameter range of 1.8 to 2.2 µm. DO and RD paralleled SO. The LR had the highest SO, DO, and RD (8.03±2.36 vs 5.73±2.48 and 5.85±0.51 mg/h for MR and SRP, respectively). The AR showed no statistically significant changes.

Conclusions: The PBsj demonstrated consistent and adequate aerosol production during 4 hours of CAN. These bench data support the widespread use of a LVN for CAN.

Key Words: aerosol • albuterol • continuous nebulization • drug aerosol therapy • inhalation devices • nebulizers • status asthmaticus

Submitted on November 25, 1997
Accepted on March 5, 1998






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