Aerosolized drug delivery in awake and anesthetized children to treat bronchospasm

Bronchospasm is a common respiratory adverse event in pediatric anesthesia. First line treatment commonly includes inhaled salbutamol. This review focusses on the current best practice to deliver aerosolized medications to awake as well as anesthetized pediatric patients and discusses the advantages and disadvantages of various administration techniques. Additionally, we detail the differences between various airway devices used in anesthesia. We highlight the unmet need for innovation of orally inhaled drug-products to deliver aerosolized medications during pediatric respiratory critical events such as bronchospasm. It is therefore important that clinicians remain up to date with the best clinical practice for aerosolized drug delivery in order to prevent and efficiently treat pediatric patients experiencing life-threatening respiratory emergencies.