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 Vol. 14 No. 5, November 2005
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AAP Grand Rounds 14:49-50 (2005)
© 2005 American Academy of Pediatrics

EMERGENCY MEDICINE

Efficacy Similar for Levalbuterol, Racemic Albuterol in Acute Asthma

Source: Qureshi F, Zaritsky A, Welch C, et al. Clinical efficacy of racemic albuterol versus levalbuterol for the treatment of acute pediatric asthma. Ann Emerg Med. 2005;46:29–36.[Medline]

The first 20% of the full text of this article appears below.

Albuterol is the mainstay of therapy for patients with acute asthma. The drug typically comes in a racemic form, with equal parts of the R- and S-enantiomer. Levalbuterol, marketed as Xopenex (Sepracor Inc., Marlborough, Mass.), consists of only the R-isomer. It has been suggested that the R-enantiomer of albuterol is responsible for the drug’s bronchodilating effects1 and that the S-enantiomer is responsible for adverse effects, including tachycardia, tremors, and nervousness.2 While some studies have concluded that levalbuterol is more effective than racemic albuterol with fewer side effects, the data are inconclusive.3,4 Researchers from the Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters, Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, Va., conducted a prospective, double-blind, randomized, controlled efficacy study to compare levalbuterol with racemic albuterol in patients ages 2 to 14 years with acute asthma who . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Ronald I. Paul, MD, FAAP
Pediatric Emergency Medicine, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY

 





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