[en] We studied the performance of a new nebuliser (Pentasave) by comparison both in vitro and in vivo with a standard nebuliser (Respirgard II). In vitro, deposition of pentamidine labelled with technetium-99m human serum albumin was measured indirectly by capturing inhaled particles on an absolute filter and measuring radioactivity with a gamma camera. The nebulisers were initially assessed with a pentamidine dose of 100 mg in 5 ml al 44 psi and an air flow of 10 l/min for Respirgard II and 16 l/min for Pentasave. Nebuliser output, expressed as the percentage of the initial nebuliser radioactivity captured by the inhalation filter, was 15%±2% (mean±SD) for Respirgard II, and significantly increased to 23%±3% for an initial version and to 33%±2% for the final version of Pentasave. Measurements with a gamma camera in a group of ten patients with human immuno-deficiency virus infection were made in vivo. The results revealed that pulmonary drug distributions are good using both Respirgard II and Pentasave. We measured pulmonary pentamidine deposition of 20.22±4.31 mg using Respirgard II (with 300 mg in 5 ml) and of 16.00±7.18 mg using Pentasave (with 150 mg in 6 ml). These findings show that the therepeutic dose of pentamidine (9 mg) was widely exceeded with both nebulisers. (orig./MG)