Abstract:
Asthma is a chronic inflammation of both large and small airways. The treatment of asthma
has undergone a number of evolutions over the last several decades, nowadays consisting in
bronchodilators and corticosteroids to reduce the inflammation. Exhaled nitric oxide, an easily and
rapidly obtained noninvasive study, is a potential surrogate for measuring airways inflammation. The
study was conducted at the Clinical Pediatric Hospital “St. John” from Galaţi where using a FeNO
(fractional exhaled nitric oxide) detector, a number of 53 children already diagnosed with asthma
were analyzed. The method is noninvasive and cost-reductive compared to other melhods used in
these cases. A number of 53 were tested using fractional exhaled nitric oxide. From this number, 36
children presented elevated FeNO values (>20 ppb) while 17 of them presented normal values. After
the corticosteroid treatment, all the children had lower values. Measuring fractional exhaled nitric
oxide (FeNO), a marker of airway inflammation, is useful in the early confirmation or exclusion of
asthma in children, especially in cases where the diagnosis is not clear at presentation. FeNO is
elevated in untreated or under-treated asthma and decreases in a dose-dependent manner with the use
of inhaled corticosteroids.
