Arshad Javaid.
Asthma management where do we stand today, what is in the pipeline?.
Pak J Chest Med Jan ;10(3):17-24.

Treatment of asthma patient today bears little resemblance to how they were managed 50 years age. During this period we have moved from non-selective adrenaline - based bronchodilators taken orally and by rather inefficient inhalation devices to a battery of symptomatic and preventive treatments in user friendly inhalers. Indeed the concept of control of asthma has only been recognized over the last decade. Changes in management of asthma have happened as a result of key advances in understanding of pathophysiology and treatment of this disease. This progress in asthma management has happened against a backdrop of rising asthma prevalence and until recently mortality. The delivery of asthma drugs into the lung directly through an inhaler was first introduced in 1956 and this undoubtedly was a stepping-stone towards improving the management of asthma. Getting drug into lungs is not of much value to patients unless those drugs work and do not have significant side effects. The first MDI`s were filled with non-selective adrenergic agents such as isoprenaline that lacked selectivity and gave patients palpitations. This is a review article.

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