[Intravenous theophylline in the treatment of asthma attacks]

Intravenous administration of theophylline for acute asthmatic attacks treatment requires statistical adjustment of the dosage. In the absence of a residual level the former one is of 6 mg/kg for the loading dose and 0.6 mg/kg/h for the maintenance dose. In case of non estimated residual rate, it's possible either not to use the loading dose, or to use a reduced dosage of 3 mg/kg. In both cases, the maintenance dose is 0.7 mg/kg/h. In future, rapid theophylline dosage technics should allow a more appropriate adaptation in emergency treatment.