How to choose a cough nebulizer for Xiaowa?
With autumn rains and cold weather, as the weather gets cooler, the incidence of respiratory infections in children increases. As one of the important means of treating respiratory tract infections, atomization therapy can disperse drugs into tiny droplets or particles, and deposit the drugs directly in the respiratory tract and lungs through inhalation, thereby achieving local treatment of the respiratory tract. Compared with oral administration or intravenous infusion, it has a better effect in humidifying, improving and eliminating inflammation of the airway.
In order to avoid cross-infection, many parents choose to give their children aerosol inhalation at home. However, faced with the wide variety of atomizers with different functions on the market, many parents have difficulty choosing. Don’t worry, today the doctor will help you analyze the characteristics of three common nebulizers on the market. You can choose the appropriate nebulizer device based on the characteristics of your child, the characteristics of the drug, clinical symptoms and the degree of cooperation.
Jet atomizer
Features: Durable but noisy.
Whether it is hospital oxygen or air compression atomization pump, it is an air flow. When this air flow rushes out of the small aperture in the atomizer, it will suck out the medicinal liquid and break the medicinal liquid into atomized particles.
Jet nebulizers are a commonly used method in hospitals and home environments because everything from instruments to consumables are readily available and have good durability. However, obvious noise will be produced during atomization, which is generally intolerable to children. In addition, the particles produced by jet atomizers are larger, and drugs with smaller particle diameters can enter the airways in the lungs.
Ultrasonic nebulizer
Features: Quiet and noiseless, but it is difficult for the medicine to reach the lungs and the effect is poor.
Ultrasonic atomizer is an instrument that generates ultrasonic waves to vibrate the diaphragm at the bottom, causing the liquid medicine on the diaphragm to vibrate violently, destroying its surface tension and inertia, thereby causing the release of drug particles. Most humidifiers for home use apply the ultrasonic principle.
As the atomization time increases, the liquid temperature will gradually increase, which will change the molecular structure of some drugs. Therefore, it is generally believed that ultrasonic nebulizers are not suitable for atomized inhalation administration of biological macromolecule drugs.
Vibrating mesh atomizer
Features: Quiet, no noise and short atomization time, but it is expensive, inconvenient to clean and easily contaminated.
The vibrating mesh atomizer places the liquid medicine on a flat plate with mesh holes. The mesh diameter is 2-5 microns. After the plate is vibrated, drug particles with corresponding diameters pass through the mesh holes to form aerosol.
Vibrating mesh atomizers have the advantages of being highly mobile, quiet, fast delivery, short atomization time and low residual volume. And it can well maintain the stability of drugs when atomizing drugs with poor stability such as biological macromolecules. However, the price of the mesh atomizer is slightly higher, and the mesh atomizer is extremely small, making it difficult to clean. If it is not disposed of in time after use, residual drugs accumulate in the mesh, which may cause blockage. On the one hand, it affects the quality of the output water mist; on the other hand, it is easy to breed microorganisms and pollute the output water mist.
Focus on
Pay attention to details and get twice the result with half the effort
For children who can cooperate with atomization, it is recommended to wear an oral atomizer, because the length from the nose to the airway will be longer than the length from the mouth to the airway. When wearing a mask, it is difficult for atomized drugs to reach the distal airway, and the human nasal cavity One of its functions is the filtering function, which will filter some aerosolized drugs;
Choosing the right atomizer is one of the steps to achieve the atomization effect, and it also requires the coordination of breathing methods. It is recommended to inhale slowly and deeply during atomization to facilitate the delivery of atomized medicine to the distal airway. During or after atomization, tap on the back and cough to expel sputum;
It is recommended to rinse your mouth with water after atomization to prevent drug residue from causing oral ulcers;
After atomization, the atomization device needs to be cleaned and dried for next use.
Text/He Wenjing, Peng Wei and Liu Yaxiao (Beijing Tsinghua Chang Gung Memorial Hospital)
