ABSTRACT
The inhalation of medical aerosols is becoming increasingly popular for the treatment of different respiratory airway diseases. In addition, there is a great interest to utilize the inhalation pathway for systemic therapy because of its large surface area that is available for absorption. Therefore, determining the required regional and local distribution of inhaled therapeutic aerosols within the respiratory system is a key issue for effective aerosol drug designs. Regional estimates of aerosol deposition allow for area-averaged predictions of tissue-level doses within prescribed areas of the respiratory tract. However, these regional estimates ignore true particle localization within the considered areas. Local deposition patterns provide a much more accurate view of the potential for component absorption, response, and tissue damage, which are cellular-level processes.
