Experimental investigation of the properties of pharmaceutical aerosols with laser-based optical measurement techniques

According to the WHO (World Health Organization) in 2016 approximately 251 million people were affected by COPD (Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) and 235 million suffer from asthma. Both diseases can be treated by inhalers using the right inhalation techniques. Our aim was to determine the aerosol particle deposition in the upper airways from a dry powder inhaler (DPI) measuring with an Aerosol Particle Sizer (APS) Spectrometer. Different inhalation profiles were built up based on measured inhalation characteristics to study the performance of DPI tools. It was found that the APS can be a beneficial real-time instrument for the determination of aerosol particle size distributions released from an inhaler in comparison with the cascade impactors [1].