Asthma is one of the respiratory disorders of the lungs and has a periodic aggravation. Very quick-acting medicines are needed to control these episodes and provide relief to the patient. These are called rescue medications. This group contains quick, short-acting bronchodilators called short-term beta agonists.

Asthma treatments usually consist medications that are normally used to treat acute emphysema but has been found to be useful to control severe asthma symptoms like tightness in chest, wheezing, cough, etc. Oral and intravenous drugs are used for short spells and they have side effects on long, continuous use. The use of emergency medication becomes very rare when long-term medicines work well.

In allergic asthma, one can get relief from the use of desensitizing medicines. One needs to take a shot every two to four weeks. As the sensitivity of the immune system reduces, these shots are lessened. Another specialized treatment is Bronchial thermoplastic. This is no more widely available and is not useful to all. In the course of three or four sessions in the outpatient setting, the insides of the air passage are heated up using an electrode. This reduces the smooth muscles inside the bronchi.

Great improvements have taken place in the field of inhaler technology. The earliest is the Standard Measured Dose Inhaler SMDI. The L-shaped contraption had a pressurized cylinder in its long arm containing an inert carrier. On pressing the piston, this gas is released which carries a fixed amount of medicine to the patient through the mouthpiece. The efficiency of the device depends on the coordinated inspiration by the patient which many found difficult. The current model has a spindle-shaped storage in between the cylinder and the mouthpiece. The mouthpiece/mask has a valve which opens and closes in sync with breathing. Once a measured quantity of medicine is released into the reservoir, the patient breaths as usual till all the medicine is taken in. When a large amount of medicine is to be inhaled, a nebulizer is used where a liquid bronchodilator is converted into a mist and the patient breaths the mist till the dose is breathed in completely. This is ideal for patients with feeble breathing and in cases where a large amount of medicine is required. Inhalers with spacers are fast catching up.