Assessment of Responses of the Airways to Therapeutic Agents

I. Introduction Asthma is a chronic inflammatory disease of the airways, which is characterized by physiological abnormalities of variable airflow obstruction and airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR) to a wide variety of physical and inhaled chemical stimuli and the presence of symptoms, such as dyspnea, cough, chest tightness, and wheezing. Over the past 40 years, very effective medications have been developed to treat asthma, the most effective …