Search

Introduction: Due to the absence of consensual definition and agreed-upon pediatric treatment, pneumothorax (PNO) in children and adolescents often remains difficult to properly apprehend., State of the Art: While initial diagnostic suspicion is clinical, confirmation necessitates chest imaging, and lung ultrasound has become increasingly prevalent, often at the expense of chest radiography. The goal of treatment is twofold, on the one hand to a fully re-expand the lungs, and on the other hand to forestall PNO recurrence. Depending on PNO severity and clinical tolerance, it may be advisable to envision conservative management, oxygen supplementation, needle exsufflation, or chest tube drainage., Perspectives: In order to harmonize clinical practices, guidelines for the precise definition and graduated management of PNO in children and adolescents are highly advisable., Conclusions: Idiopathic spontaneous PNO frequently occurs in teenage populations, and its likewise frequent recurrence is not satisfactorily predicted by chest CT findings. It is of paramount importance that patients be fully informed of the risk of recurrence., (Copyright © 2023 SPLF. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

Congestion of the upper (URT) and lower respiratory tracts (LRT) is a common symptom in several acute and chronic respiratory diseases that occur in childhood. To eliminate these secretions, airway clearance techniques (ACT) directed to the URT and LRT are frequently prescribed. The rationale for the application of these techniques is the same as in adults, but they need to be adapted to be transposed to children. The physiotherapist will be able to choose among a wide range of techniques, of which the most adequate will depend not only on the age of the child and the indication, but also on the basis of his preferences or habits, as well as those of the child. Upper airway clearance, including nasal irrigation, is now recommended for acute and chronic rhinosinusitis in children. It is also one of the symptomatic treatments recommended for infants with acute bronchiolitis. For LRT clearance, several indications, such as cystic fibrosis, primary ciliary dyskinesia and neuromuscular disease, are now widely advocated. Conversely, other indications, such as for infants with acute viral bronchiolitis, are highly controversial. Thoughtful application of these techniques is lacking in robust and precise tools to objectively assess the presence of bronchial congestion, and to treat it accordingly. Similarly, no precise and reliable evaluation of the effectiveness of these ACTs is available to date. This review is designed to explore the ACTs used by physiotherapists, to provide an overview of their current indications, and to consider complementary approaches., (Copyright © 2022 SPLF. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

Nebulization is a drug delivery mode whose prescription and application remain uncertain. A guide to good practice has been proposed by the work group on aerosol therapy of the French Society for Respiratory Diseases, so-called GAT. The previous recommendations date from 2007. In addition to an update of data on nebulization, these expert recommendations aim to be of real help to the prescriber., (Copyright © 2020 SPLF. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

This article reports an exchange of unbiased arguments between Mr Guy Postiaux speaking in favour of respiratory physiotherapy in acute viral bronchiolitis in the newborn and Prof. Jean-Christoph Dubus arguing against. A review of the literature suggests that traditional methods of physiotherapy should be abandoned because they are not validated and because they have harmful side effects. The latest Cochrane revue (2016) suggests the use of slow expiration techniques that have some validated elements and cause no harmful side effects. Large multicentre studies should be undertaken to confirm or refute the results of the five studies in the Cochrane review. Their analysis would allow extraction of objective evidence for the efficacy of slow expiration techniques on the relief of bronchopulmonary obstruction and the reduction of the degree of severity in the short and medium term. Studies of the effect of ambulatory respiratory physiotherapy for bronchiolitis of a moderate degree not requiring hospitalisation are not available. An evaluation is needed which is based on the pathophysiology of multifactorial bronchial obstruction and on the physical signs, of which auscultation is the cornerstone., (Copyright © 2018 SPLF. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: Inhaled therapy is the mainstay of asthma treatment due to its local and rapid action. However, its efficiency relies on the teaching of a good inhalation technique by health care providers. We assessed health care providers' knowledge and practical skills in the use of inhalation devices., Methods: An observational multicenter study was conducted in the pulmonology and paediatric wards in Marseille. The departments' common practices, theoretical knowledge and practical skills were assessed through a questionnaire and a demonstration using a spacer device., Results: Forty health care providers were interviewed (9 attending physicians, 14 residents, 16 nurses and 1 physiotherapist), in 8 different pulmonology and paediatric wards. A total of 42.5% reported previous training in inhalation device technique. When evaluating theoretical knowledge, we found a mean of 54% correct answers. Attending physicians did significantly better than residents and nurses. With regard to practical skills, we found a mean of 1.12 failed steps out of 7. Here again attending physicians did significantly better than residents and nurses., Conclusion: Based on the results of our study, we recommend that attending physicians provide training of inhalation technique to nurses and residents, as they did significantly better theoretically and practically., (Copyright © 2016 SPLF. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: Use of a spacer device to optimize the delivery of fluticasone to infants with asthma is an important issue and clinicians require guidance around the choice of device. This in vitro study characterizes the particle size and the fluticasone delivery via 9 spacers., Methods: We used an in vitro infant nasal cast with two different inspiratory flow rates (50 and 100mL/s). Fluticasone particle size in the aerosol was evaluated by laser diffractometry and tracheal deposition by spectrophotometric assay., Results: Significant differences in particle size were observed between the 9 spacers (similar D50 but D90 from 5.65±0.65 to 8.80±1.35μm). A 75 % or higher respirable fraction was obtained for only 5 spacers. The 50mL/s flow rate lead to the best drug delivery. At this flow, OptiChamber ® (62±3 %) and Vortex ® (91±8.5 %) had a tracheal deposition over 50 % of the initial dose of fluticasone, although the 7 other spacers exhibited a fluticasone deposition less than 25 %., Discussion: This study shows a wide variation of drug delivery between the 9 spacers studied. We demonstrate that a low inspiratory flow and a spacer showing antistatic properties facilitate drug delivery., (Copyright © 2016 SPLF. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

Inhaled drugs are now routinely prescribed in daily medical practice. Recent topics about these treatments have been developed during the fourth annual meeting of the Groupe de travail aérosolthérapie (GAT) of the French-speaking respiratory society (Société de pneumologie de langue française). This article focuses mainly upon the choice of devices, systemic absorption of inhaled drugs and bitter taste receptors in the respiratory tract, a potential new target for drug development., (Copyright © 2014 SPLF. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

Objective: To identify the spacer devices sold in France and to provide a critical evaluation in the light of the published data., Materials and Methods: We contacted the pharmaceutical companies, manufacturers and distributors of each spacer in order to obtain their technical parameters and the results of any in vitro or in vivo studies. A review of the literature via PubMed completed the first set of data. We were interested in the quantity of fine particles (less than 5 μm diameter) obtained with a cascade impactor at paediatric flow rates, for all inhaled drugs available in France., Results: Eleven spacer devices were available in 2013 in France (Ablespacer®, Aerochamber Plus®, Babyhaler®, VHC Arrow®, L'Espace®, Funhaler®, Inhaler®, Itinhaler®, OptiChamber Diamond®, Tipshaler® and Vortex®), but three are no longer manufactured (Babyhaler®, Funhaler® and Inhaler®). All were small volume spacers, sold with facial masks of several different sizes. Four were antistatic (Aerochamber Plus®, Intinhaler®, OptiChamber Diamond® and Vortex®). Only salbutamol was tested with all the devices. Inhaled corticosteroids were tested with some and combinations were studied only with Ablespacer®, Aerochamber Plus®, Itinhaler®, and Vortex®. The results were difficult to interpret because the studies were conducted with very different protocols. The only clinical studies were conducted with Aerochamber Plus®, L'Espace® and Vortex®., Conclusion: There was a great disparity between commercialized spacer devices in terms of the available data describing their in vitro performance., (Copyright © 2015 SPLF. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

Inhaled therapies are widely prescribed. Several aspects of these treatments were considered during the 4th meeting of the aerosol therapy workgroup (GAT) of the French-speaking respiratory society (Société de pneumologie de langue française [SPLF]). In this report, will be detailed the medications delivered by the nasal route, particularly corticosteroids and vaccines as well as the ultra long-acting beta2-agonists, and inhaled therapies for asthma due to allergy to cat dander., (Copyright © 2015 SPLF. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

In the past few years some new inhaled drugs and inhalation devices have been proposed for the treatment of cystic fibrosis. Breath-controlled nebulizers allow increased pulmonary deposition, with a lower variability and a shorter delivery time. The new dry powder formulations of tobramycin, colistine and mannitol require a change in the inhalation technique which must be slow and deep. In the field of the inhaled mucolytic drugs, hypertonic saline and mannitol have an indication in some patients. With regard to antibiotics, dry-powder tobramycin and colistine can be substituted for the same drug delivered by nebulization. Nebulized aztreonam needs more studies to determine its place. These new treatments represent a definite advance for cystic fibrosis patients and need to be known by all practitioners. Their position in our therapeutic arsenal remains to be accurately defined., (Copyright © 2013 SPLF. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

The working group on aerosol therapy (GAT) of the Société de pneumologie de langue française (SPLF) organized its third "Aerosolstorming" in 2012. During the course of one day, different aspects of inhaled therapy were discussed, and these will be treated separately in two articles, this one being the first. Inhaled products represent a large volume of prescriptions both in the community and in hospital settings and they involve various specialties particularly ENT and respiratory care. Technical aspects of the development of these products, their mode of administration and compliance with their indications are key elements for the effective therapeutic use of inhaled treatments. In this first article, we will review issues concerning generic inhaled products, the existence of inhaled antidotes, new anti-infective agents and indications for inhaled pentamidine., (Copyright © 2013 SPLF. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

The working group on aerosol therapy (GAT) of the Société de Pneumologie de Langue Française (SPLF) has organized its third Aerosolstorming in 2012. During one single day, different aspects of inhaled therapies have been treated and are detailed in two articles, this one being the second. This text deals with the indications of inhaled corticosteroids in ENT, the development and technical challenges of powder inhalers, the advantages and disadvantages of each type of technologies to measure the particle sizes of inhaled treatments., (Copyright © 2013 SPLF. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

Communications from the 2011 meeting of the GAT are reported in this second article on the practical management of bronchial provocation tests and infectious risks associated with the use of nebulization. Recent advances on the role of nebulized hypertonic saline in the treatment of acute bronchiolitis in infants and of the nebulization in sinusal diseases are also reported., (© 2012 SPLF. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

Aim: Pentamidine is a drug generally used for the prophylactic treatment of Pneumocystis pneumonia in immunocompromised patients. The Respirgard II® jet nebulizer has been recommended for pentamidine administration, but this device is no longer available. The aim of our study was to review current clinical practice for pentamidine nebulisation in paediatric hospitals., Methods: A survey was sent to the departments of Haematology and Pneumology of university hospitals all over France. We collected information about treatment indications, the number of treated children in 2010, side effects and delivery devices used for nebulization., Results: Out of the 62 interviewed departments, 36 responses were obtained (58 %). Half the respondents, mostly Haematology departments (n=15/18), used nebulized pentamidine in immunocompromised patients aged 5 to 15 years old who were unable to tolerate sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim. Sixty-three percent of them treated less than ten children per year, with monthly 150 to 300mg doses administered over a period of 9 to 12 months. Few side effects were reported. In 61 % of the cases, the nebulizer used was unknown or not adapted (1 ultrasonic and 1 mesh nebulizer). In the remaining cases, pentamidine was nebulized with approved jet nebulizers (Isoneb®, Respiromed CR01®, and Microcirrus®)., Conclusion: Nebulized pentamidine is not used frequently in children. Better information about the appropriateness of nebulizer usage is needed., (Copyright © 2012 SPLF. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

Aerosoltherapy is a first-line treatment for chronic obstructive respiratory diseases such as asthma and COPD. Treatment modalities and devices are varied and the choice of the device must be adapted to and optimized for every patient. Spacers can be used for some categories of patients for whom the use of other devices turns out to be complicated. The improvement of these treatments requires the optimization of the lung deposition of inhaled particles; lung modeling plays an essential role in the understanding of the mechanisms of flow in the airways. Regulations must frame prescription of inhaled treatments to optimize its quality and, thus, the care for these chronic diseases. Many generally-accepted ideas concerning these treatments turn out to be false. Inhaled treatments are constantly evolving, both pharmacologically and technologically., (Copyright © 2012 SPLF. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: Between 5 and 7% of babies are born prematurely. In the paediatric age group, the respiratory morbidity of these patients is well known, particularly in cases of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD). On the other hand, very few data are available concerning their adult respiratory status., Background: There are currently three different groups of ex-premature babies: (1) those with no BPD who are usually not considered as respiratory high-risk adults but have not been well studied; (2) ex-premature babies with BPD who have an increased risk of asthma, respiratory infections, bronchial obstruction aggravated by smoking, and non-atopic bronchial hyperreactivity; this group has been well studied but not beyond 30 years of age; (3) the babies born very prematurely and affected with a new form of BPD due to neonatal intensive care at a very immature stage of pulmonary development, and for whom the future in adult life is unknown but worrying because of reduced lung volumes since birth., Viewpoints and Conclusions: The respiratory physician must be aware of these groups of adults who he may encounter and who may develop, sooner or later, a certain type of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease., (Copyright © 2011 SPLF. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: New Caledonia is situated in the western South Pacific 20000 km from France. In this Overseas Territory (pays d'outre-mer [POM]) the prevalence of tobacco smoking is very high and estimated at 30% among men and 34% among women. Experimenting with cannabis is also very widespread. The incidence of chronic respiratory illness and lung cancer remains high in the Territory. Modern laws protecting non-smokers still do not exist. This study aims at describing the behaviour of young people from 14 to 18 years old, at school in the public sector of Noumea, with respect to tobacco and marijuana consumption. This survey examines the way this behaviour varies according to age, sex, community, place of residence and socioeconomic conditions, in order to identify the most exposed groups. Finally, we study the effect of this consumption on the respiratory health of young school people., Methods: The enquiry was undertaken from May 4th to 15th 2009 in 16 classes drawn randomly from the colleges and secondary schools of Noumea (439 pupils). The survey consisted of an anonymous questionnaire containing 48 questions grouped into five subjects: a sociodemographic description of the subject and his/her family, the family lifestyle, tobacco consumption, marijuana consumption and a respiratory questionnaire. The completion of the questionnaires took, on average, 25 minutes and took place in class in the presence of the doctor undertaking the survey. The data were analysed with Ethnos-4 software. The analysis was made in two stages: a descriptive study after uni- and bivariate analysis and an analytical study to identify the risk factors of the addictive practices. The statistical tests used were Pearson's chi(2) test and the Hosmer-Lemeshow test for calculation of odds ratio., Results: The participation rate was 95.2% (n = 415). The sample was predominantly female (56.6%) and 31% of the pupils were less than 16 years old. The number of tobacco smokers was considerable at 41.1%, 27.3% were regular daily smokers including 38.5% who smoked more than six cigarettes a day. The results were dependent on sex (female predominence) but independent of ethnic origin and socioeconomic factors. The number of cannabis smokers was 48% among whom 32% were regular consumers. The daily smokers were uniquely boys and the custom was more frequent among the Melanesian population. Only 11% of the pupils were worried about their consumption and, among them, only the regular smokers were more at risk of bronchial infection., Conclusions: In New Caledonia, tobacco consumption levels are higher than those in developed countries. We did not find a falling trend compared with previous data. The use of cannabis remains very widespread at an early age, with a male predominance for daily consumption. For both, these addictions the perception of the risk and the desire to stop are weak. The population studied is representative of teenagers in the public sector schools in Grand-Noumea but probably does not reflect the situation on the whole territory. The results obtained suggest the value of a study of the whole of New Caledonia, the eventual purpose being to guide the public health authorities towards policies that help the young people of the country., (Copyright © 2011 SPLF. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

The in vitro assessment of the aerosol fine particle 'respirable' fraction and the aerodynamic particle size distribution on cascade impactors is necessary to meet the demands of regulatory authorities but does not predict lung deposition of an inhaled drug notably in patients with chronic obstructive airway diseases. Total drug delivery to the lung can be assessed using pharmacokinetic methods. Pharmacokinetic studies are easier to conduct in patients with chronic obstructive diseases than imaging studies using two- or three-dimensional scintigraphic methods. For fast acting inhaled drugs, such as bronchodilators, the relationship between lung deposition and clinical efficacy can be established by modeling of the pharmacokinetic - pharmacodynamic (bronchodilation) relationship. Improvement of lung deposition is usually associated with a reduction of the dose required for clinical efficacy but the change in the dose-response relationship is not proportionally related to the increase in lung deposition. Aerosols delivering small particles improve lung deposition, by distributing drug diffusely throughout the lungs, in particular by reaching peripheral airways. These aerosols do not improve clinical efficacy as evaluated on classical spirometric or clinical criteria but often permit a reduction in dosage. Also, they can minimize oropharyngeal deposition, reduce variability in lung deposition and spirometric response related to change in inspiratory flows.

The treatment of asthma in children should not be fixed but rather must be regularly adapted to keep the condition under control defined according to clinical and functional criteria. In a child whose asthma is controlled, a step down in therapy should be carried out every 3 to 6 months to achieve the minimal effective level of treatment. In a child whose asthma appears not to be controlled, it is necessary initially to evaluate compliance with therapy and to seek aggravating factors which may include allergic rhinitis, multiple sensitisation, tobacco exposure, psychological factors, obesity, gastro- oesophageal reflux and infection. Where control of asthma is poor the main therapeutic strategy rests on an increase in the dose of inhaled corticosteroid and on the addition of other anti-asthmatic treatments--inhaled long--acting beta 2 agonists and oral leukotriene antagonists.