Treatment of asthma-related respiratory arrest with endotracheal albuterol (salbutamol).

An albuterol (salbutamol) sulphate solution was successfully administered endotracheally to a 67-year-old woman suffering severe bronchospasm and impending ventilatory arrest secondary to asthma. Following two doses of endotracheal albuterol her clinical status and arterial blood gases improved dramatically. She was extubated shortly after and had an uneventful recovery. The endotracheal route for albuterol administration appears to provide an effective method of delivery to the bronchial tree when the asthmatic patient has been intubated.