Clinical article
On the go with portable mesh nebulizers
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Pulmonary disease patients—from children with asthma to adults with COPD—want to enjoy the daily activities of life. Having a portable, discreet device to administer the medicines they need that’s always available and easy to use—whether at home, school, or work—will help them take back control of their lives.
What’s the best device-patient match?
Considering just the right aerosol medication delivery device for patients means taking into account their abilities—consider impaired dexterity, reduced muscular strength, and poor hand-breath coordination that might impede efficient and complete medication delivery with devices such as inhalers. There are a multitude of aerosol delivery devices, such as dry powder inhalers, metered dose inhalers, compressor jet nebulizers, and vibrating mesh nebulizers. Each of these have advantages and disadvantages that should be taken into consideration to match not only the patient’s ability to use these devices, but also to match their needs and preferences so that drug delivery is optimized—and further, improves the patient’s satisfaction with their care. The technologies associated with aerosol delivery devices are evolving, so it is important that clinicians keep abreast regarding these changes.
Advances in nebulizer technology have led to the development of small, portable, battery-operated vibrating mesh nebulizers for patients who prefer a nebulizer, but have the need to be mobile rather than being tethered to a tabletop compressor system.
Clinical support
Previous studies with nebulizers have demonstrated that shorter nebulization times may positively impact adherence to medication1—and better adherence has been linked to better clinical outcomes.2
A portable mesh nebulizer designed with the patient in mind
The Philips InnoSpire Go portable mesh nebulizer is designed to reduce the treatment time burden of by delivering aerosol treatments in approximately 4 minutes.* Its rechargeable battery delivers up to 30 treatments (120 minutes of use) per charge. If a patient is taking a treatment three-to-four times a day, this allows them to charge the device once a week, reducing the burden, and helping them to go about their lives worry free. Respiratory patients are commonly prescribed more than one inhaled medication that might be delivered by different devices. Each device might have a different set of instructions for correct use that could lead to patient confusion. The InnoSpire Go was designed as a simple, two-part design that may be used to deliver commonly prescribed aerosol medications. This enable patients to simplify their treatment regimen and use just one aerosol delivery system, making their day-to-day routines a little easier. After delivering the prescribed dose, InnoSpire Go beeps audibly and automatically switches off. This means not only that treatment times are consistent, but also that the patient isn’t left guessing about whether their treatment is complete. InnoSpire Go was designed to offer improved ease of use compared to other commercially available nebulizers. When designing InnoSpire Go, Philips asked a user panel spanning 5 to 73 years of age to assess its ease of use compared with other commercially available mesh nebulizers. InnoSpire Go was rated highest for ease of use, treatment burden, comfort of holding, and appearance.4
Consistent and effective aerosol delivery
InnoSpire Go uses Aerogen’s clinically proven Vibronic vibrating mesh technology to deliver fine aerosol mist into the lungs.5,6 Droplet size of < 5 µm is generally acknowledged to be the optimal size to deposit in the small airways.7 The InnoSpire Go achieves the < 5 µm droplet size across a variety of commonly prescribed medications for treatment of asthma and COPD.8,9 Further, InnoSpire Go very consistently produces droplets of the same size at constant flow rates of between 15–30 L/min.10
Who may benefit from this technology
The advanced technology of mesh nebulizers offers increased portability, quiet and efficient nebulization, and less drug left behind in the nebulizer compared to jet nebulizers.11 Mesh nebulizers can also provide benefits to patients who have difficulty using aerosol delivery devices due to factors such as poor coordination and impaired dexterity.12
Table 1 presents the performance attributes of different aerosol drug delivery devices. These attributes may be used to help drive selection of the medication delivery device patient populations. It also highlights where mesh technology may be preferable.
Device | Quiet operation | Portable | Use without hand-breath coordination | Inhale with normal tidal breathing |
| |  | | |  |
| Metered dose inhaler | | | | |
| Compressor jet nebulizer | | | | |
| Vibrating mesh nebulizer | | | | |
*using 2.5ml Salbutamol3
Conclusion
The InnoSpire Go portable mesh nebulizer is easy for patients to use, delivers commonly used respiratory meds8,9 to the lungs quickly for more effective treatment and offers consistent medication delivery.10,11 It offers a number of advantages compared with jet nebulizers and, for some patient groups, compared with meter dose inhalers and dry powder inhalers. Equally as important, it lets patients get on with the daily activities of life.
Learn more about the advanced nebulizer technology in the white paper, “Advances in nebulizer technology with focus on ease of use with commonly prescribed aerosol medications".
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1. Spencer T, Dyche T, Nikander K, Smith NJ, Pritchard J: The association of true adherence, inhalation time and treatment time for patients using the I-neb AAD System. In: Dalby RN, Byron PR, Peart J, Suman JD, Farr SJ, and Young PM, (eds). Proceedings of Respiratory Drug Delivery 2012; May 13–17; Arizona. Richmond (VA), Virginia Commonwealth University; vol. 3, pp. 679–684. 2. Mäkelä MJ, Backer V, Hedegaard M, Larsson K. Adherence to inhaled therapies, health outcomes and costs in patients with asthma and COPD. Respir Med. 2013;107:1481–1490. 3. Data on file. Respironics Respiratory Drug Delivery (UK) Ltd Aerosol Laboratory Test Report No:RDD303ST150. 4. Hatley R, Rowe L, Rabbetts I, Quadrelli F. Optimizing patient experience of nebulizer treatments. Eur Respir J. 2016;48 (suppl 60):PA4082. 5. O' Callaghan C, Barry P. The science of drug delivery. Thorax. 1997; 52 (Suppl2): S31–S44. 6. Hatley RHM, Hardaker LEA, Metcalf AP, Parker T, Quadrelli F, Pritchard J. Ensuring the consistency of performance of mesh nebulizers. J Aerosol Med Pulm Drug Deliv. 2017:30(4): A10. 7. American Association for Respiratory Care. Aerosol Consensus Statement 1991, Resp Care. 1991;36.9, pp 916–921. 8. Slator L, Quadrelli F, von Hollen D, Hardaker L. Evaluation of delivered dose and treatment time of several mesh nebulizers under in vitro simulated use. Eur Respir J. 2017;50 (suppl 61):PA3939. 9. Slator L, Cooper-Rayner N, Hardaker LE, von Hollen D, Pritchard JN. Delivery of a budesonide suspension formulation from mesh vs jet nebulizers under simulated pediatric and adult breathing patterns. J Aerosol Med Pulm Drug Deliv. 2018;31(2):A13–A14. 10. Pritchard J, Slator L, von Hollen D. Consistency of aerosol characteristics at low flow rates for a novel mesh nebulizer. Eur Respir J. 2018;52 (suppl 62):PA1018 11. Pritchard J. Effect of changes in peak inspiratory flow on the dose of salbutamol delivered by nebulizers under simulated conditions. Eur Respir J. 2018; 52 (suppl 62):PA3350. 12. Dhand R, Dolovich M, Chipps B, Myers TR, Restrepo R, Farrar JR. The role of nebulized therapy in the management of COPD: evidence and recommendations. COPD. 2012;9:58–72.