Use of aerosols in bronchiectasis patients

Bronchiectasis is a chronic respiratory disease which recognises different etiologies, and characterised by persistent cough, bronchial hypersecretion, airway colonisation with Gram-negative pathogens; frequent infectious exacerbations; progressive lung function decline, and poor quality of life. Several therapeutic strategies are used for managing bronchiectasis, and nebulised medications are regarded with great and ever increasing interest because they allow the direct medication of targets airway structures, higher concentrations of the drug employed, and much less systemic effects. In general terms, the available therapeutic strategies lead to different results depending of whether bronchiectasis are related to cystic fibrosis or not. The effects of the main classes of drugs for aerosol delivery in bronchiectasis patients have been reviewed and updated. Further research is needed in order to ameliorate therapeutic interventions in bronchiectasis, both in terms of new molecules and aerosol formulations to use, and of systems able to optimize drug delivery and drug effectiveness.