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Glite Dictionary
🔩 A gap device ⬜ A blank space 💨 A medicine chamber
spacer

spacer

1 4.6
A plastic tube used with an inhaler to help medicine reach the lungs
  • noun
  • /ˈspeɪsər/
  • Specialized
translation icon : espaciador
  • Using a spacer with your inhaler can significantly improve the delivery of medication to your lungs.
  • inhaler with a spacer
  • Artelon spacer
  • spacer device

Examples

  • For children with asthma, a spacer can make it much easier to use inhalers correctly.

  • BDP was administered by means of an aerosol inhaler with a spacer device.

    Academic text (1992)

  • Thrush was rare because a spacer device was used.

    Academic text (1992)

  • Use of a spacer device is a worthwhile means of minimizing local side effects.

    Academic text (1992)

  • You perform spirometry with reversibility, using 400 mcg of salbutamol through a spacer.

    Academic text (2012)

  • Recent studies have shown that a salbutamol inhaler with a spacer has equal efficacy to that of nebulized salbutamol.

    Academic text (2007)

  • The doctor recommended a spacer to enhance the absorption of medication during treatment.

Surface Forms

spacer singular
spacers plural

Morphology

spacer = space (transparent) = space + er

The medical device sense still follows the ordinary 'space' + '-er' pattern, since the device creates extra space to improve inhaler delivery.

Etymology

Spacer comes from the common word space meaning 'an empty area' and the ending -er meaning 'a thing that makes or does'. So a medical spacer is a tube that creates a space between the inhaler and the mouth to help the medicine reach the lungs more easily.