Monitoring Nitric Oxide not useful for many asthmatic childrenThe level of nitric oxide in the exhaled breath of an asthmatic patient can portend worsening of asthma symptoms. Furthermore, it can even signify an imminent attack linked to underlying airway inflammation.

These reasons have made the monitoring of nitric oxide levels, especially in children, of considerable interest and as a potential breakthrough for helping clinicians to formulate medications and enhance the results of treatment methodologies.

From Sciencedaily.com:

Still, in light of these findings, it is clear that FENO monitoring should only be applied to those who stand to gain the most. “There can be no doubt that adding frequent assessments of FENO to management plans of most children and adults with asthma will add unjustifiable costs without providing clinical benefit. Whether there is a role for monitoring FENO to aid management of severe asthma is untested,” wrote Stephen Stick, Ph.D., of the Princess Margaret Hospital for Children in Perth, Australia and Peter Franklin, Ph.D., of the Centre for Asthma, Allergy and Respiratory Research at the University of Western Australia in Perth in an editorial that accompanied the article.

“We did not address other possible applications of frequent FENO monitoring, such as prediction of steroid effect. Loss of control, prediction and prevention of exacerbations, and tapering of steroids in symptom-free children who wheezed in the past,” noted Dr. de Jongste. “We think there is good reason to study these potential applications.”

Johan C. de Jongste, M.D., Ph.D., at the Erasmus University Medical Center-Sophia Children’s Hospital in the Netherlands, and colleagues, remarked that there is a good reason to study about these potential applications in the near future.



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