Principles of management of acute severe asthma: a review of current trends

Abstract

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease of the lungs characterized by airway hyper-responsiveness of the bronchial smooth muscle, edema and disruption of the mucosa as well as obstruction of the lumen by mucus leading to repeated episodes of wheezing, shortness of breath, chest tightness, and coughing.
Several treatment modalities exist for the management of asthma, however, in a large proportion of patients it remains uncontrolled. This predisposes these patients to increased risk of severe exacerbations, poor quality of life and high economic burden in the long-run. The primary goals of asthma treatment are to avoid severe asthma exacerbations, to control symptoms and to maintain normal lung function with the lowest effective dose of medication so that unnecessary adverse effects can be avoided.
In spite of the availability of a wide range of controller/reliever therapies, uncontrolled asthma remains a challenge and posits the need for news therapeutic options. This review discusses current global guidelines for the assessment and management of acute severe asthma control and highlights a few novel therapeutic agents which are employed in the management of asthma.