Allergy and asthma proceedings :
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Allergy Asthma Proc · May 2002
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical TrialFurosemide plus albuterol compared with albuterol alone in children with acute asthma.
Several reports have shown that inhaled furosemide protects patients with asthma from different bronchoconstrictor agents. However, the effect of this widely used diuretic in acute exacerbation in adults is unproven. There are no reports of furosemide's therapeutic effect in acute asthma in children; thus, the objective of this study was to determine the effectiveness of the combined treatment of furosemide and albuterol in pediatric patients. ⋯ An increase in FEV1 of 22.8 +/- 4.3% (mean +/- SE) in the drug combination group was noted at 60 minutes, and an increase in FEV1 of 18.0 +/- 2.6% in the albuterol group was obtained at the same time. Although the increase in FEV1 was greater in the first group after 1 hour of treatment, this was not significant. These results suggest that inhaled furosemide does not have a synergistic effect with albuterol in the treatment of asthmatic exacerbations in children.