Back in the 70s when I was a medical resident, we had only 3 bronchodilators to treat patients with asthma or COPD: caffeine, theophylline, or epinephrine. I overdosed several patients with theophylline (aka aminophylline), making them upchuck. Since inhalers have since became a multi-billion (dollar, Looney, Euro, pound, etc) market, many drug companies have obtained a slice of the pie by producing better bronchodilators.
So here is the quiz question: Which of the following is NOT a bronchodilator?
Proventil, Ventolin, albuterol, Xopenex, levalbuterol, Atrovent, ipratropium, umeclidinium, Seebri, Lonhala, glycopyrrolate, Spiriva, tiotropium, Tudorza, aclidinium, Arcapta, indacaterol, Brovana, arformoterol, Perforomist, formoterol, Serevent, salmeterol, Stiverdi, olodaterol, Anoro, Incruse, umeclidinium, vilanterol, Stiolto, olodaterol, Utibron, Bevespi, Yupelri, revefenacin, or ciclesonide.
Notes: I have capitalized the trade names. Bronchodilators relax the smooth muscles which spiral around our airways (bronchi), making them open slightly (dilate). This improves lung function (FEV1 and FVC) by an average of 10% (and 0.1 liters), or more if you only have asthma and not emphysema. There are two classes of bronchodilators: Beta Agonists and Muscarinic receptor Antagonists (aka anti-cholinergic). They are short acting (SABA or SAMA) or long-acting (LABA or LAMA). Some inhalers contain both a SAMA and a LAMA. All of them have been proven not to help you to live longer, but you may have less shortness of breath or fewer exacerbations.