ERJ Open Research (Oct 2020)

Comparison between traditional and nontraditional add-on devices used with pressurised metered-dose inhalers

  • Mina Nicola,
  • Youssef M.A. Soliman,
  • Raghda Hussein,
  • Haitham Saeed,
  • Mohamed Abdelrahim

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1183/23120541.00073-2020
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 6, no. 4

Abstract

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Add-on devices that are attached to metered-dose inhalers (MDIs) were introduced to improve aerosol delivery. The objective of this study was to determine the efficacy of drug delivery from an MDI when attached to different add-on devices at different inhalation volumes. The total emitted dose (TED) of salbutamol was estimated for the MDI alone and the MDI connected to five different add-on devices (Able valved holding chamber, Tips-haler valved holding chamber, Aerochamber plus flow Vu valved holding chamber, Dolphin chamber, and a handmade water bottle spacer), at inhalation flow of 28.3 L·min−1 with flow volume of 1, 2 and 4 L, assuming young child (aged 6 years) and adult inhalation volumes, respectively. The TED% ranged between 84.1% and 87.2% at all inhalation volumes from the MDI alone, which was significantly greater than all MDI add-on device combinations (p<0.05). The TED% delivered to MDI sampling apparatus by a homemade water bottle spacer and Dolphin chamber, as non-antistatic add-on devices, ranged between 30.5% and 35.3%. However, washing these non-antistatic add-on devices with a light detergent before use improved their TED to range between 47.6% and 51.2%. Non-antistatic add-on devices had significantly lower TED (p<0.05) than that delivered by most antistatic add-on devices, which ranged from 51.3% to 71.6%. This study suggests that antistatic add-on devices delivered much more aerosol than non-antistatic add-on devices. However, it may be advised to still use a non-antistatic add-on device, for the sake of solving the coordination problem, and wash it with light detergent before use to improve TED.