Exhaled nitric oxide after a single dose of intramuscular triamcinolone in children with difficult to control asthma

In a previous study, we reported that intramuscular (IM) triamcinolone improves symptoms in children with difficult asthma. In 2005, we revised our difficult asthma protocol to include assessment of airway inflammation, both directly using sputum induction and indirectly by measurement of exhaled nitric oxide (eNO). In this retrospective review, we aimed to describe (i) the changes in eNO and symptoms after a single 60 mg dose of IM triamcinolone and (ii) the changes in inflammatory markers in the subgroup with non-eosinophilic asthma (i.e., an induced sputum eosinophil differential count <2.0%). Seven children received IM triamcinolone during the study period. In all children, symptom scores fell in the week following the IM injection (P < 0.01 vs. the pre-treatment week), and remained reduced for up to 6 weeks. eNO also fell within a week after IM therapy (P < 0.01), and remained reduced for up to 4 weeks. Non-eosinophilic asthma was definitively identified in three children, and in this group, eNO and symptoms fell after the IM injection. We conclude that IM triamcinolone therapy reduces both eNO and symptoms for up to 4 weeks in children with difficult asthma. Our data provide preliminary evidence that IM triamcinolone is an effective anti-inflammatory therapy in children with induced sputum non-eosinophilic asthma.