Aerosol medications for treatment of mucus clearance disorders

Abstract

Airway mucus hypersecretion and secretion retention can result from inflammation, irritation, stimulation, or mucus-producing tumors. Secretion clearance can be furthered hampered by ciliary dysfunction and by weakness or restrictive lung disease, leading to an ineffective cough. There are a number of different mucoactive medications that have been used to reduce hypersecretion, make secretions easier to transport, or increase the efficiency of cough or mucus clearance. In this paper, I review the pathophysiology of secretory hyper-responsiveness and mucus hypersecretion and discuss the different aerosol medications that can be used to augment secretion clearance.