Delivery, Transport, and Uptake of Inhaled Medical Gases

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The global impact of chronic respiratory disease on patient health status and healthcare costs is staggering. It has been estimated by the World Health Organization’s Global Alliance against Chronic Respiratory Diseases that more than 1 billion people worldwide suffer from such diseases, which include asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), sleep apnea, and pulmonary hypertension. COPD alone accounts for approximately 5% of all deaths globally, and healthcare costs associated both with treating exacerbations of COPD in hospital as well as managing symptoms in the home healthcare setting are enormous. Improved treatments and medical devices, incorporated into disease management programs, are clearly needed; however, with ever-increasing pressures on healthcare spending, including R&D spending, such advances must come at lower cost than previously expected. There is, therefore, an urgent need to streamline development through use of representative analytical and experimental modeling, so as to better vet potential innovations at an early stage, and identify those few with sufficient promise to bear the costs associated with investigation in the clinical setting. Engineering analysis and design play critical roles in the development of medical devices. The applicant’s vision is to establish a research program dedicated to the specific sub-category of devices used to control and monitor delivery of therapeutic gases and vapors to the lungs. In addition to specialized applications of gaseous compounds in anesthesia, critical care, and lung imaging, this includes devices used to administer supplemental oxygen, a mainstay throughout hospital, emergency, and home care settings. Currently, over 2 million patients worldwide receive long-term oxygen therapy in their homes. With aging populations, along with increasing incentives to treat patients at home versus in the hospital or clinic, this number is expected to increase. In parallel, recent clinical studies have concluded that the mechanical and clinical performance of existing oxygen delivery devices are highly variable, and that apparently equivalent technical features, as assessed using current methods, do not guarantee equivalent therapeutic function. Through an emphasis on experimental methods used to analyze the interface between delivery device and patient, it is anticipated that the proposed research will play a leading role both in establishing representative test platforms for device evaluation, and in identifying unmet technical requirements via thorough engineering analysis of existing device performance. These will serve as key tools and inputs in the design of novel devices for improving consistency of dosing, monitoring of delivered quantities, and, ultimately, patient health outcomes. Experimental measurements will be coupled with mathematical models describing fluid mechanics and transport processes occurring in the human respiratory tract, borrowing from an extensive set of archival publications in respiratory physiology and inhalation toxicology. In this manner, gas transport and lung mechanics occurring within the body will be linked with parameters that can be monitored and controlled external to the body, at the level of the device. The proposed research program is expected to have significant impact on future development of medical gas devices. Undergraduate and graduate trainees alike will be encouraged to engage with healthcare professionals and industry contacts early on in specifying key requirements and deliverables for their projects, and to seek intellectual property protection on novel solutions. Graduates of the program will be well-prepared to participate in positioning Canada as an emerging hub for medical device innovation.