Complications of nebulized inhalation

Nebulizer inhalation is a treatment method widely used in clinical medicine, mainly used to treat respiratory diseases. Although it is a treatment method, it does not mean that nebulization inhalation is safe. If too much is inhaled or the inhalation speed is too fast during the treatment, it will cause complications such as bronchospasm, acute pulmonary edema, tracheal obstruction, hiccups, fungal infection, etc.

1. Bronchospasm

It is mainly caused by inhaling too fast or too much. Due to the rapid entry of excessive aerosol particles into the bronchi and alveoli, an oversaturated mist is formed, which stimulates the bronchial smooth muscles and causes bronchospasm. Patients experience symptoms of bronchial obstruction such as chest tightness, shortness of breath, palpitations, and wheezing.

2. Acute pulmonary edema

The occurrence of acute pulmonary edema is mainly related to large amounts of aerosol inhalation and long duration, which causes a large number of droplets to continuously enter the alveoli. The droplets contain a large amount of water, which can create tension on the surface of the alveoli. Once this tension is greater than the tension of the alveolar surfactant, it will cause alveolar shrinkage, resulting in the infiltration of water in the capillaries into the alveoli and pulmonary interstitium, thereby causing acute pulmonary edema. Patients will experience a series of symptoms and signs such as frequent coughing, coughing up large amounts of foamy sputum, and difficulty breathing.

3. Tracheal obstruction

Tracheal obstruction often occurs in young or elderly patients with weak constitutions. Young patients have a weak cough, so they often have difficulty expectorating, which leads to the retention of sticky phlegm in the bronchi, which is particularly prone to blockage of the delicate bronchi of young children. For elderly patients, long-term use of hypotonic nebulizer fluid is likely to cause sputum expansion and block small bronchi, resulting in small airway obstruction and difficulty in exhaling, thereby aggravating the elderly patient's hypoxia state and causing clinical manifestations such as dyspnea, cyanosis and arrhythmia.

4. Hiccups

Hiccups often occur when the nebulizer inhalation speed is too fast or too intense, and a large amount of aerosol particles are swallowed, which stimulate the diaphragm and cause involuntary and intermittent spasms of the diaphragm. The clinical manifestation is constant hiccups.

5. Fungal infection

Long-term nebulized inhalation of broad-spectrum antibiotics, glucocorticoids and other liquid medicines can lead to a decline in the body's normal immune function, or cause respiratory flora imbalance, making various fungi, especially Candida albicans, Pneumocystis, Aspergillus, etc. active and multiply in large numbers, thereby causing fungal infections of the respiratory system (such as fungal lung infections, thrush, etc.). The typical manifestations of pulmonary fungal infection are cough, sputum and wheezing. The sputum is thick, jelly-like or can be pulled out in long threads, and may be accompanied by hemoptysis or blood in the sputum.

The typical manifestation of thrush is that the surface of the oral mucosa is covered with white curd-like dots or small flakes, which may gradually merge into large pieces. After forced peeling, the local mucosa becomes flushed and may bleed, but it is not painful or drooling, and will not affect normal eating. There are no systemic symptoms.