Pulmonary Function Tests: Forced Expiratory Volume in 1 Second (FEV 1)

FEV 1
With the help of well-trained and experienced pulmonary function technicians, children as young as 4 to 5 years of age should be capable of performing spirometry. Spirometry measures forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV 1 ), the ratio of FEV 1 /FVC, as well as other measures of airflow including the forced expiratory flow between 25% and 75% of FVC (FEF 25–75 ). The FEV 1 is the most commonly used and reproducible measure of pulmonary function, whereas the FEF 25–75 demonstrates much more intrapatient variability. (more…)

Budesonide Inhalation Dose versus Maintenance Treatment in Asthma Exacerbations

budesonide inhalation
This study was similar to the study of Harrison and colleagues, which looked at doubling the dose of inhaled corticosteroid during an asthma exacerbation. This study investigated whether doubling the dose of budesonide inhalation in patients on regular inhaled budesonide would be beneficial during an asthma exacerbation. (more…)

Repeated Dosing Effects Of Mediator Antagonists in Inhaled Corticosteroid-Treated Atopic Asthmatic Patients

Treating allergic rhinitis may have a downstream effect on concomitant asthma and this may be due to attenuation of the underlying inflammatory process.

Fexofenadine and montelukast exhibited additive effects to moderately high doses of inhaled corticosteroids when used as add-on therapy in the treatment of patients with persistent atopic asthma. (more…)

Tbx21 With The Use Of Inhaled Corticosteroids In Asthma

The T-bet (T-box 21) gene (TBX21) encodes a transcription factor, T-box expressed in T cells, which has been implicated in asthma through its role in Th1 cell induction. Subjects in the Caucasian subset of the Childhood Asthma Management Program (CAMP) were genotyped for a non-synonymous TBX21 SNP, H33Q. Comparisons between the wild-type and heterozygous H33Q alleles were performed by luciferase activity assay and by studying the ability to control cytokine function in cell culture. The effect of corticosteroids on T-bet expression was determined in human peripheral blood CD4-positive cells. (more…)

Acute Severe Asthma Management

children acute severe asthma
How to properly make clinical diagnosis of acute severe asthma? There is little doubt of the accuracy of current asthma testing. This is because most patients had bring out an established asthma diagnosis from prior regular asthma treatment, before presenting it to Asthma Emergency Department. We can see that most of patients had physical presentation: sitting up right, had profusely diaphoretic, only manage to speak only a few words at a time, and obvious respiratory distress. We can see varying respiratory rate on most patients. Hyperventilating is common in proportion to the severity of asthma attack. On the other hand, patients with hypoventilation is an indication of impending respiratory arrest. (more…)