A nebuliser delivers medicine or other active agents, such as saline solutions, directly to the respiratory tract. This page explains what a nebuliser is, what kind of nebulisers exist and who can benefit most from using a nebuliser. You will also find out what to look for when choosing a nebuliser for treating the lungs.
Nebulisers are devices that generate a fine mist from a chosen inhalation solution. Depending on the treatment goal, the inhalation solutions can for example be prescribed medicines or saline solutions. In fact the nebuliser is just one part of a system thus the correct term would be nebuliser system or nebuliser machine.
Nebulisers are used for a variety of respiratory conditions such as COPD, asthma, cystic fibrosis, bronchiectasis and infections of the upper and lower respiratory tract.
There are different kinds of nebulisers and all of them have their pros and cons:
Jet Nebulisers
+ very versatile: can deliver all medications that are available for nebulisation
+ possibility to combine drug nebulisation with physiotherapy (e.g. with PARI PEP system)
+ PARI compressors are very durable
+ very easy to use
- louder than ultrasonic and vibrating mesh nebulisers
- not portable – need to be plugged in.
Ultrasonic Nebulisers
+ silent use
- not as versatile as jet nebulisers because ultrasonic nebulisers can damage some medicines.
- not portable – need to be plugged in.
Vibrating Mesh Nebulisers
+ silent
+ some are extremely fast (e.g. PARI VELOX)
+ portable: small and work on batteries or mains power supply.
- high quality ones such as eFlow®rapid are more expensive than jet nebuliser systems.
Inhalers usually come in the form of dry powder inhalers (DPI) or metered dose inhalers (MDI). Those inhalers usually contain a fixed prescribed medication or a combination of medications for a certain respiratory condition.
People often use them incorrectly, so you should be trained on how to use them effectively by your doctor or nurse to get your inhaler technique right.
Looking at the advantages above, it seems obvious that children and elderly patients benefit most from using a nebuliser. They usually have problems with performing the breathing maneuvers required for DPIs or MDIs, and they often don´t have the coordination needed to use a spray correctly.
In general, everybody can benefit from the various positive effects of saline nebulisation that are only possible with a nebuliser.
All nebulisers generate a fine mist and they all seem to do the same thing. However, there are major differences and therefore there are some important features to look for in a good nebuliser:
The generated particles need to be very small to reach the lungs.If particles are smaller than 5 microns (NB, 1 micron is 1/1000th of a millimetre!) they are “respirable” meaning that they reach the right part of the lung to work. However, there is a tradeoff: the smaller the particles are the longer the treatments take.
Therefore you should look at the nebuliser efficiency which can be measured by the respirable drug delivery rate (RDDR). The higher the RDDR is, the less time it takes to deliver the medicine. PARI nebuliser systems have a very high RDDR.
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We recommend buying your nebuliser at www.Nebicorum.co.uk, our trusted partner and one of the leading stockists of high quality nebulisers in the UK.
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