Rapidly repeated intravenous boluses of salbutamol for acute severe asthma.

We describe the use of intravenous boluses of salbutamol given rapidly (over 1-2 min) in children (5 microg x kg-1) and young adults (250 microg) with acute severe asthma who were not improving with doses of nebulised salbutamol. Intravenous boluses were repeated within a short time until improvement was seen. Two of the seven patients required tracheal intubation and ventilation.