Is the measurement of delivered dose a good performance measure? A characterization of delivered and respirable delivered dose in two brands of jet nebulizer

Background Use of a nebulizer facilitates rapid administration of high doses of drug, which is desirable for patients presenting with acute severe asthma. Breath-enhanced jet nebulizers direct the patient’s air flow through the nebulizer handset during inhalation producing aerosol output with a more favorable respirable profile. SideStream Plus (SS+; Philips Respironics) and Nebutech (NB; Salter Labs) are breathenhanced jet nebulizers, designed to produce a high delivered dose in a short treatment time. A previous in vitro characterization of delivered dose and droplet size distribution of arformoterol nebulized via the SS+ and the NB indicated that the SS+ performed favorably, compared with the NB. [1] We present results of an in vitro characterization of salbutamol sulphate (albuterol sulfate) delivery via the SS+ nebulizer and the NB nebulizer.