In-Vivo Evaluation of Nebulized Aerosols Delivered Via Nasal Route

Aerosol medicine is widely used in treating pulmonary diseases in children. Delivering drugs via aerosol faces several challenges; some are related to the drug and the delivery methods and others to the patient behavior. The latter are crucial and can significantly affect the lung deposition of the drug. Infants are known to be obligate nose breathers making the transnasal route the natural approach for drug delivery in this age group. Different interfaces are already available in the market and are specifically designed to be used in children to improve the child acceptability of the interface and by the result to improve drug deposition. Due to limitations in the use of radiolabeled aerosols and pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics studies in infants and children, in-vitro models were developed. These models still lack biological variability which leads to overestimating lung deposition. So, real life correction factors are needed to improve current in-vitro modeling. Previous unpublished data from our laboratory showed that alignment of the aerosol stream with the nostrils is very important for pulmonary deposition.

Our objectives are to provide real life data of acceptance of different interfaces by infants and children and to provide a real life correction factor to improve current in-vitro modeling.