Everything You Want To Know About Nebulizer Is Here!

Autumn and winter are the high incidence period of respiratory diseases. When there are symptoms of respiratory diseases such as cough, phlegm, and even throat edema, doctors often require "aerosol inhalation" treatment. Well, there are so many kinds of Nebulizer products on the market now! How to choose? Today's article will take you all at once.

First of all, let's understand what aerosol therapy is.

Atomization treatment is to use an atomization device to disperse the liquid medicine into some fine atomized particles, which are sprayed in the form of aerosol, just like the spray used at home. The purpose of this is to facilitate the patient to inhale the liquid medicine, so that the medicine can quickly reach the airway mucosa and be absorbed by the human body. The patient can quickly relieve local symptoms and systemic symptoms through atomization inhalation.

What are the advantages of nebulizing inhalation?

① The drug can directly reach the lesion without passing through the blood circulation, and the effect is faster and better

② The local drug concentration is high, but the total dose is small, and the side effects on the baby are smaller

③ The baby is less painful, just wear a mask to breathe

④ The nebulized drugs used in pediatrics are not addictive and will not cause drug dependence

Can be atomized:

① Asthma exacerbation and non-acute exacerbation

② cough variant asthma

③ Severe cough after infection, affecting life

④ Respiratory diseases related to wheezing (such as asthmatic bronchitis, bronchiolitis, bronchiolitis obliterans, etc.

⑤ Acute stage of pneumonia and mycoplasma pneumonia and recovery stage after infection

⑥ Bronchial and lung dysplasia

⑦ Acute laryngotracheobronchitis

⑧ During and after endotracheal intubation

With so many Nebulizers on the market, how do you choose? Let us first understand the classification and principle of Nebulizers.

The Nebulizers on the market are mainly divided into three types according to the atomization principle, ultrasonic Nebulizers, compression Nebulizers and micro-mesh Nebulizers (the piezoelectric Nebulizers currently being promoted are actually micro-mesh Nebulizers).

Ultrasonic nebulizer: Using the principle of ultrasonic, the liquid medicine is atomized. The nebulizer of the ultrasonic nebulizer has no selectivity for the fog particles, so most of the generated drug particles can only be deposited in the upper respiratory tract such as the mouth and throat (the diameter of the atomized particles of the ultrasonic nebulizer is generally about 9 μm, which is only suitable for the upper respiratory tract. Treatment). At the same time, due to the large mist particles generated by the ultrasonic Nebulizer and the rapid atomization, the patient inhales too much water vapor, which humidifies the respiratory tract. Resistance may cause hypoxia, and the ultrasonic nebulizer will make the liquid droplets hang on the inner cavity wall, which is not effective for lower respiratory tract diseases, and the demand for drugs is large, resulting in waste.

Micro-mesh Nebulizer (piezoelectric Nebulizer): The principle is that under the oscillation drive of a certain frequency of the circuit, the piezoelectric ceramic transducer piece resonates and oscillates, thereby driving the metal mesh to oscillate at high speed, so that the liquid medicine passes through the metal mesh. There are many tiny mesh holes on the sheet and are quickly ejected to form countless tiny atomized particles (the diameter of the atomized particles is generally within 5μm), which are guided to the patient's respiratory system through the mask or mouthpiece. Its advantage is that it is quiet, but it is not routinely used in domestic hospitals at present, and the micro-mesh nebulizer is easy to block.

CompressionNebulizer: Also known as jet atomization, it is based on the Venturi injection principle, using compressed air to form a high-speed airflow through a small nozzle, and the generated negative pressure drives liquid or other fluids to be sprayed onto the barrier together. Under the high-speed impact, it splashes around to make the droplets turn into mist-like particles and ejected from the air outlet. The compressed nebulizer has a small dosage, and the drug mist is mainly deposited in the lower respiratory tract. The particle diameter of the compressed Nebulizer is also relatively small, generally within 5 μm.

According to the "Expert Consensus on the Application of Aerosol Inhalation Therapy in Respiratory Diseases" published by the Chinese Medical Association in September 2016, the diameter of effective aerosol particles refers to the aerosol particles that have therapeutic value and can be deposited in the airways and lungs. The diameter should be 0.5 to 10.0 μm, preferably 3.0 to 5.0 μm.