|
||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||
|
JACI Highlights - February 2006Taylor et al – Nitric oxide as a clinical guide for asthma managementAsthma is increasingly recognized as a syndrome rather than a specific disease, and its clinical manifestations, natural history, and responses to treatment are very variable. Conventional lung function tests provide information which is used by the clinician to support the diagnosis and assess severity. But because of considerable overlap between asthma and other airways diseases, such tests provide only limited guidance, both diagnostically and in terms of treatment choices. In the February 2006 issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Professor Taylor discusses the role of nitric oxide in the management of asthma. The advent of exhaled nitric oxide (FENO) measurements is a significant advance in practice. It enables airway pathology to be identified more accurately than other invasive and expensive tests. The measurements are easy to perform. FENO may be used to guide inhaled steroid requirements in certain clinical situations. Repeated FENO measurements improve the cost-effectiveness of inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) therapy when used to guide dose requirements. They are particularly helpful in the management of severe or difficult asthma. They shed light on whether or not symptoms are due to poorly controlled airway inflammation, and in turn on whether or not the patient may benefit from more or less inhaled corticosteroid – or none at all. The technique is coming of age, and FENO measurements now have a useful place in day to day practice. |
|||||||||||||
|
© 1996-2008 · All Rights Reserved · American Academy of Allergy Asthma & Immunology |
||||||||||||||
