Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med., Vol 153, No. 3, Mar 1996, 1148-1152.
Surfactant nebulization does not alter airflow obstruction and bronchial responsiveness to histamine in asthmatic children
SB Oetomo, C Dorrepaal, H Bos, J Gerritsen, TW van der Mark, GH Koeter and WM van Aalderen
Department of Pediatrics, University Hospital Groningen, the Netherlands.
To test the hypothesis that surfactant nebulization improves pulmonary
function and reduces bronchial responsiveness to histamine, we studied 12
children with asthma. We measured before and after inhalation of 100 mg
nebulized natural-derived bovine surfactant (Alveofact (registered)) and
after nebulization of 0.9% NaCl the change in peak expiratory flow, vital
VC, FEV1, and forced expiratory flows at 50 and 75% of the flow- volume
curve. In addition, we performed a histamine inhalation challenge. We did
not find any significant changes in these parameters after nebulization of
surfactant. These findings indicate that the inhalation of nebulized
surfactant does not alter airflow obstruction and does not alter bronchial
responsiveness to histamine in asthmatic children with airflow obstruction.
