Clinical controversies in aerosol therapy for infants and children

Abstract

Pediatric patients are different from adult patients with respect to airway anatomy and breathing patterns. They are also incapable of following commands and often reject breathing treatments. For these reasons, aerosol drug delivery is one of the most technically challenging aspects for clinicians providing respiratory care to young children. Improvements in nebulizer technology have provided better delivery options for pediatric patients. This review highlights research related to pediatric nebulizer and interface devices and how they can be used to provide the safest and most efficient treatments with the array of treatment delivery options. Also addressed are clinical controversies and debates in pediatric aerosol science, including drug delivery in crying versus resting infants, pressurized metered-dose inhalers and small-volume nebulizers for bronchodilator administration, continuous nebulization, noninvasive drug delivery options, and optimization of nebulizer performance during infant and large pediatric conventional and high-frequency ventilation.