[Assessment and management of acute severe asthma]

In the management of acute severe asthma it is very important to start the treatment as soon as possible, by appropriate evaluation of the physical status and signs of airflow obstruction. We propose a guideline to be used by patients with asthma, emergency car crews, physicians and nurses to evaluate the severity and to choose the appropriate management of acute asthma, including intubation and mechanical ventilation, by the assessment of clinical features, as well as blood gas analysis and pulmonary function test. Several researchers have demonstrated that the additional administration of aminophylline to inhaled or subcutaneous beta 2-agonist bronchodilator during the first 4 hours of an attack provides no additional benefit compared to the administration of beta 2-agonist alone. In our retrospective study of 68 episodes of acute severe asthma in the last 5 years at our institute, however, the additional administration of aminophylline with beta 2-agonists was clearly shown to be effective with infrequent minor side effects.