[9] It is used by injection into a vein, muscle, fat, or the heart, by inhalation, and in the past under the tongue or into the rectum.

[10] Chemically, isoprenaline is a synthetic catecholamine and is the N-isopropyl analogue of norepinephrine (noradrenaline) and epinephrine (adrenaline).

[9] It is also used to prevent Torsades de Pointes in patients with long QT refractory to magnesium and to treat patients with intermittent Torsades de Pointes refractory to treatment with magnesium.

[17] Historically, it was used to treat asthma via metered aerosol or nebulizing devices; it was also available in sublingual, oral, intravenous, and intramuscular formulations.

[15] The U.S. National Asthma Education and Prevention Program Expert Panel recommends against its use as a nebulizer for acute bronchoconstriction.

[4] It was previously also available in the United States as a solution, metered aerosol, powder, or disc for inhalation and as a tablet for sublingual and rectal administration, but these formulations were discontinued.

[4] It should not be used in people with tachyarrhythmias (except in special circumstances),[19] tachycardia or heart block caused by digitalis poisoning, ventricular arrhythmias which require inotropic therapy, or with angina.

[9] Side effects of isoprenaline may include nervousness, headache, dizziness, nausea, blurred vision, tachycardia, palpitations, angina, Adams-Stokes attacks, pulmonary edema, hypertension, hypotension, ventricular arrhythmias, tachyarrhythmias, difficulty breathing, sweating, mild tremors, weakness, flushing, and pallor.

[20] Overdose of isoprenaline may produce effects including tachycardia, arrhythmias, palpitations, angina, hypotension, hypertension, and myocardial necrosis.

The overall effect is to decrease mean arterial pressure due to the vasodilation caused by β2-adrenergic receptor activation.

Isoprenaline can produce tachycardia (an elevated heart rate), which predisposes people who take it to cardiac arrhythmias.

[3] Oral isoprenaline is well-absorbed but is subject to strong first-pass metabolism[27] and is approximately 1,000 times less potent than intravenous administration.

[5][6] Another study suggested that its oral bioavailability, based on pharmacodynamic activity via different routes, was slightly less than 4%.

[7][14] Between 1963 and 1968 in England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand there was an increase in deaths among people using isoprenaline to treat asthma.

[35][1][2] Isoproterenol hydrochloride is its USANTooltip United States Adopted Name and JANTooltip Japanese Accepted Name in the case of the hydrochloride salt and isoproterenol sulfate is its USAN and JAN in the case of the sulfate salt.

[1][2] These include Aleudrina, Asthpul, Iludrin, Iprenol, Isomenyl, Isuprel, Isoprenaline, Isoprenalina, Isoproterenol, Neo-Epinine, Neodrenal, Proternol, and Saventrine, among others.