KARACHI, March 11: Disregarding a commonly held notion that inhalers were meant for end-stage patients, the efficacy of the use of inhalers in the management of ‘acute childhood asthma’ was highlighted at a workshop.

The workshop, held at the paediatric ward of Liaquat National Postgraduate Medical Centre on Monday, was part of a series of programmes, organized in connection with the four-day four Liaquat National Post-Graduate Medical Centre symposium on theme ‘Evidence- based medicine’ which began on Monday.

The symposium would continue for four days. A total of 23 workshops will be held, followed by formal inauguration and teleconference on Tuesday.

On the opening day of the conference, 16 workshops were held, attended by more than 400 participants.

In her presentation on diagnosis and management of asthma in children, Dr Jamila Rehman said although asthma was largely incurable, knowledge and pharmacology was now available for effective management of disease symptoms, thus improving the quality of life of the patient.

Speaking about the drugs and other devices being used in the management of asthma, Dr Jamila discussed the treatment protocol of various drugs on case-to-case basis.

The use of meter-dose inhalers, with improved drug delivery, in management of acute asthma and for delivering first-aid in severe asthma attacks was also emphasised.

She said due to ignorance, a large section of the population, still considers inhalers as a device meant for use by terminal cases of asthma and it is important that this misconception is removed.

In this connection, she stressed the importance of providing counselling not only to the patient but also to its close family and friends, to enable them to help the patient deal better with his condition and recognize factors triggering asthma.

She said it is best to avoid carpets, heavy curtains, upholstered fabrics and stuffed toys in the surroundings of a child suffering from asthma.

She also mentioned foods, such as egg-white, wheat, cow’s milk, peanuts, beverages prepared from orange juice concentrate, artificial colours, and mono-sodium glucomate, in triggering bouts of asthma in children and said it was important to detect factors which may trigger or aggravate symptoms of asthma in a patient.

She said parents should be encouraged to read the labels for the contents before buying a product for an asthmatic child.

The main topics of the workshop include cardio-pulmonary resuscitation, radial artery harvesting, respiratory failure and mechanical ventilation, therapeutic upper GI endoscopy, interpretation of common pathological disorders, update in diagnostic microbiology, combined phaco-surgery, trabecolectomy, update in diagnostic microbiology, neonatal resuscitation, anatomises and knotting, urodynamics and treatment of urinary incontinence.

The highlight of workshop were the ones on assisted reproduction and on quality management in health-care.