Author: Gary T Kitching, Jason B Lee / Editor: Jason M Kendall / Reviewer: Michael Perry, Jon Bailey, Ahmad Alabood / Code: / Published: 29/04/2021 / Reviewed: 06/05/2025
This module focuses on the treatment of adult patients with previously diagnosed asthma that present to the Emergency Department (ED) with an acute episode of breathlessness.
After completing this session you will be able to:
- Describe the patho-physiology of asthma
- Categorise the severity of an asthma attack
- Identify life-threatening features of an asthma attack
- Employ appropriate treatments according to the severity of attack
- Differentiate those patients that require admission from those that can be discharged from the ED.
References
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- National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). Asthma: diagnosis, monitoring and chronic asthma management (BTS, NICE, SIGN). NG245 | 27 November 2024.
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- National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE). Asthma: What else might it be? Last revised in April 2025.
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- Starobin D, Bolotinsky L, Or J, Fink G, Shtoeger Z. Efficacy of nebulized fluticasone propionate in adult patients admitted to the emergency department due to bronchial asthma attack. Isr Med Assoc J. 2008 Aug-Sep;10(8-9):568-71.
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- Lichtenstein DA. Lung ultrasound in the critically ill. Ann Intensive Care. 2014 Jan 9;4(1):1.
- Lichtenstein D, Mezire G, et al. The “lung point”: an ultrasound sign specific to pneumothorax. Intensive Care Med. 2000 Oct;26(10):1434-40.
- Lichtenstein DA, Mezire GA. Relevance of lung ultrasound in the diagnosis of acute respiratory failure: the BLUE protocol. Chest. 2008 Jul;134(1):117-25. doi: 10.1378/chest.07-2800. Epub 2008 Apr 10. Erratum in: Chest. 2013 Aug;144(2):721.