Current asthma therapies and issues in asthma management.

The current consensus on asthma therapy recognizes that the pathogenesis of asthma is associated with chronic inflammation of the airways, and that inflammation is the cause of airway hyperresponsiveness. Airway limitation and other symptoms of asthma are clinical consequences of the inflammatory process. The primary goal of asthma management is to control the disease process by reducing symptoms and airway exacerbations and by improving lung function. Pharmacological control of asthma can be achieved with anti-inflammatory 'controller' medications such as cromones and inhaled glucocorticoids. Short-acting bronchodilators act as 'reliever' medications and rapidly reverse acute manifestations of asthma such as respiratory symptoms and airflow limitation but do not reverse airway inflammation. Leukotrienes play an important role in the pathogenesis of asthma. Inhibitors of leukotrienes such as leukotriene receptor antagonists and 5-lipoxygenase inhibitors are likely to be the most signif...