Should aminophylline be abandoned in the treatment of acute asthma in adults?

摘要

Intravenous aminophylline is widely used for the treatment of acute asthma and anecdotes about its apparent effectiveness abound. Early studies demonstrated that aminophylline is an inefficient bronchodilator compared with adrenergic agonists given by injection or inhalation. This paper presents the results of a review of randomized controlled trials examining the effect of adding aminophylline to standard modern therapy with a nebulized β_ 2 agonist and systemic corticosteroids in acute asthma in adults.