在medicine，雾化器^[1]或者nebuliser^[2]（看spelling differences）是drug delivery device用于以吸入肺部的薄雾形式给药。雾化器通常用于治疗cystic fibrosis,asthma,COPDand other呼吸疾病或者disorders.

Analytical nebulizers是另一种形式的喷雾器,used primarily in laboratory settings for elemental analysis.

雾化器使用氧,压缩的空气或者超声波将解决方案和悬浮液分解为小的力量aerosol可以直接从设备的喉舌中吸入的液滴。气溶胶是气体和固体或液体颗粒的混合物。

Various asthma guidelines, such as the Global Initiative for Asthma Guidelines [GINA], the British Guidelines on the management of Asthma, The Canadian Pediatric Asthma Consensus Guidelines, and United States Guidelines for Diagnosis and Treatment of Asthma each recommendmetered dose inhalersin place of nebulizer-delivered therapies.^[3]The European Respiratory Society acknowledge that although nebulizers are used in hospitals and at home they suggest much of this use may not be evidence-based.

Recent evidence show that nebulizers are no more effective than剂量吸入器(MDIs) with spacers.^[5]带有垫片的MDI可能会为患有急性哮喘的儿童提供优势。^[3][6][5]Those findings refer specifically to the treatment of asthma and not to the efficacy of nebulisers generally, as for COPD for example.^[5]For COPD, especially when assessing exacerbations or lung attacks, there is no evidence to indicate that MDI (with a spacer) delivered medicine is more effective than administration of the same medicine with a nebulizer.^[7]

The欧洲呼吸学会强调了与从雾化溶液中分别销售雾化器设备引起的液滴尺寸可重复性有关的风险。他们发现，通过从效率低下的雾化器系统变为高效的雾化器，这种做法可能会变化10倍或更多。^[4][8]Two advantages attributed to nebulizers, compared to MDIs with spacers (inhalers), were their ability to deliver larger dosages at a faster rate, especially in acute asthma; however, recent data suggests actual lung deposition rates are the same. In addition, another trial found that a MDI (with spacer) had a lower required dose for clinical result compared to a nebulizer (see Clark, et al. other references).^[3]