Intravenous use of glycopyrrolate in acute respiratory distress due to bronchospastic pulmonary disease.

A patient with acute respiratory distress secondary to emphysema and reactive airway disease had inadequate tidal volumes with and without endotracheal intubation. Because of the patient's failure to respond to maximal standard bronchodilator therapy and the physical inability to ventilate the patient by manual positive pressure, he received IV glycopyrrolate (0.2 mg) approximately 50 minutes after admission to the ED. The patient's condition immediately improved, as evidenced by the ability to manually ventilate the patient; he developed increased tidal volumes; and he began responding to inhalation therapy. This is the first reported case of IV glycopyrrolate administration for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or asthma in the literature and demonstrates an instance in which inhalation therapy was ineffective due to low tidal volumes.