Penicillin Aerosolization in the Treatment of Serious Respiratory Infections

Abstract

AEROSOLS may be defined as suspensions of liquids or solids in air or oxygen. The use of bronchodilator, vasoconstrictor and chemotherapeutic agents by continuous aerosolization with streams of oxygen or compressed air has been employed in patients with asthma,^{1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10} pulmonary emphysema,^{4 , 5} pneumonia,^{11 12 13 14} gas poisoning^{15 16 17} and other types of bronchopulmonary disease.^{13 , 14}, ^{18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27} The value of such therapy can be appreciated if one recalls that the inner surface of the lung has an area five hundred times as great as the body surface and absorbs so rapidly as to give an effect similar to that of an intravenous injection. Furthermore, Krueger et . . .