Aerosolized medications are frequently used in the pulmonary function laboratory. The 2 most common implementations are bronchodilators and bronchial challenge agents. Bronchodilator administration is not well standardized, largely because of the various methods of delivery available for clinical practice. Metered-dose inhalers used with spacer devices are the most common route for bronchodilat...

BACKGROUND In the day to day care of obstructive airways diseases (asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) important decisions such as disease classification and choice of therapy are based on assessment of the bronchodilator response. However, surprisingly little is known of the long term course of the bronchodilator response in patients with obstructive airways disease. METHODS Da...

BACKGROUND Data are lacking from general population studies on how to define changes in lung function after bronchodilation. This study aimed to analyze different measures of bronchodilator response of forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1), forced vital capacity (FVC) and slow vital capacity (SVC). MATERIALS AND METHODS Data were derived from the Swedish Cardiopulmonary Bioimage Study (...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the modulatory effects that dynamic hyperinflation (DH), defined as a reduction in inspiratory capacity (IC), has on exercise tolerance after bronchodilator in patients with COPD. METHODS An experimental, randomized study involving 30 COPD patients without severe hypoxemia. At baseline, the patients underwent clinical assessment, spirometry, and incremental cardiopulm...

The aim of this study was to describe the impact of using bronchodilators on the prevalence of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease in a population-based survey (Platino study). A cluster sampling of subjects 40 years of age or older, representative of the metropolitan areas of 5 Latin American cities (Sao Paulo, Mexico, Montevideo, Santiago and Caracas) was chosen. Spirometry according to ATS...

BACKGROUND Heliox and forward-leaning posture (torso inclined forward at 50-60° with the elbows resting on the thighs) are adjuncts in the administration of nebulized bronchodilator to patients with acute asthma. METHODS We randomized 59 patients who presented to the emergency department in severe asthma crisis, into 4 treatment groups: nebulized bronchodilator + oxygen; nebulized bronchodila...

BACKGROUND Tiotropium is used in maintenance treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), but there are no guidelines on when to start tiotropium following an exacerbation. OBJECTIVE To determine whether the addition of tiotropium to a respiratory-therapist-directed bronchodilator protocol affects bronchodilator costs for patients hospitalized for COPD exacerbation. METHODS We...