title: Aerosol delivery devices and obstructive airway disease.
abstract: Two obstructive lung diseases, asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, account for the vast majority of prescriptions for aerosolized medications and devices . Asthma is an immunologically mediated condition characterized by episodic reversible airway obstructions that occur in all age groups. In contrast, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease is a condition characterized by relatively irreversible obstruction that is seen in middle-aged and elderly cigarette smokers. Nevertheless, there is sufficient overlap in terms of airway physiology and therapeutics to allow a review of the challenge of aerosol delivery in both conditions in the same article. This review will concentrate on issues related to aerosol delivery.
authors.affiliation: Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, SUNY at Stony Brook, HSC-17-040, Stony Brook, NY 11794-8172, USA. toriordan@notes.cc.sunysb.edu
authors.forename: Thomas G
authors.initials: TG
authors.lastname: O'Riordan
mesh_terms: D000280:Administration, Inhalation; D000336:Aerosols / Q000008:administration & dosage; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D006801:Humans; D008173:Lung Diseases, Obstructive / Q000188:drug therapy*; D009330:Nebulizers and Vaporizers; D013673:Technology Assessment, Biomedical; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D000336:Aerosols