title: Intravenous infusion of enprofylline with an exponentially decreasing drug concentration in acute asthma.
abstract: Nine patients (3 women), aged 29-78 years, with acute asthma were treated with the antiasthma xanthine, enprofylline, in an open-design study without a reference drug. Enprofylline was administered intravenously (i.v.) over 2 h with an exponentially decreasing concentration. This alternative infusion system was found to be simple to handle. All patients but one reached a therapeutic plasma concentration of enprofylline within 20 min, but with a lower peak plasma, concentration as compared to what previously has been found with a conventional i.v. injection of the same amount of drug. The plasma concentration of enprofylline remained on a stable and therapeutic level over the 2-h observation period. The effect on lung function was comparable to that found in other controlled trials with enprofylline. A system for i.v. administration of drugs with an exponentially decreasing concentration as an alternative to manually given i.v. injections should be further evaluated.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, County Hospital, Ystad, Sweden.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Arnman
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Willén
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Borgström
authors.forename: T B
authors.initials: TB
authors.lastname: Conradson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001249:Asthma / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology; D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000187:drug effects; D001835:Body Weight / Q000187:drug effects; D001993:Bronchodilator Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000493:pharmacokinetics / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000187:drug effects; D006801:Humans; D007275:Injections, Intravenous; D008875:Middle Aged; D010366:Peak Expiratory Flow Rate; D012129:Respiratory Function Tests; D014970:Xanthines / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000493:pharmacokinetics / Q000627:therapeutic use*
chemical_list: D001993:Bronchodilator Agents; D014970:Xanthines; C034347:enprofylline