Mobile multifunctional tool for monitoring and management of respiratory diseases

描述(申请人提供)：移动多功能工具，用于监测和管理呼吸系统疾病、慢性阻塞性肺疾病(COPD)和哮喘，影响全球数百万人。由于这些疾病没有根治的方法，因此需要对患者的整个一生进行有效的管理，这随着医疗费用的迅速上升而变得越来越困难。新的移动医疗技术，如允许患者在自由生活条件下或接近自由生活条件下监测他们的疾病的个人设备，将降低成本，从而有助于解决这一问题。此外，与目前在医院或临床环境中进行的零星体检相比，移动设备提供的对患者健康状态的持续监测将提供更完整的信息。COPD和哮喘最有效的诊断和治疗技术是肺活量测定和二氧化碳分压测定。然而，传统的低成本肺量仪相对不准确，缺乏气体交换信息，且二氧化碳分压设备笨重、昂贵、操作困难，没有专业人员的密切监督。这些因素限制了肺活量测定和二氧化碳分压测定仅能在医院或临床环境中使用。目前的项目旨在开发一种个人设备，可以同时进行二氧化碳分压和肺活量测定，供患者在医院和诊所外使用。制造这样的设备在技术上具有挑战性，但本项目将建立在PI的几项创新之上， 包括1)用于准确地逐个呼吸分析二氧化碳浓度的纳米复合传感材料；2)低成本和高性能的声学流量传感器，其覆盖了低流速二氧化碳描记和高流速肺活量测量的宽动态范围；3)自适应采样算法，用于在没有专业人员在场的情况下正确地采集患者的呼吸；以及4)用户友好的手机应用，用于信号处理、数据显示和存储以及通信。该项目结合了TF Health Co(以Breeing Co.开展业务)、亚利桑那州立大学生物分析团队的传感器开发和设备制造能力以及退伍军人医学中心在研究和临床实践方面的医学专业知识，开发并验证了一种用于个人肺功能监测的多功能工具。两个团队合作并进行了实质性的实验，这为他们克服技术挑战并达到最终目标做好了准备。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Mobile multifunctional tool for monitoring and management of respiratory diseases Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and asthma affect millions of people worldwide. Because there is no permanent cure for these diseases, efficient management of the patients over their entire lifetime are needed, which becomes increasingly difficult with the rapid rise in the cost of health. New mobile health technologies, such as personal devices that allow patients to monitor their diseases under or near free-living conditions, will lower the cost, and thus contribute to the solution of the proble. Furthermore, continuous monitoring of the patients' health status afforded by the mobile devices will provide more complete information than the sporadic medical exams carried out currently in hospital or clinical settings. The most effective diagnosis and management technologies for COPD and asthma are spirometry and capnography. However, traditional low-cost spirometers are relatively inaccurate and lack of gas exchange information, and the capnography equipment is bulky, expensive, and difficult-to-operate without close supervision of professionals. These factors have limited spirometry and capnography to the use in hospital or clinic setting only. The present project aims at developing a personal device that can perform both capnography and spirometry for patients to use outside of hospitals and clinics. Creating such a device has been technically challenging, but the present project will be built upon several innovations by the PIs, including 1) a nanocomposite sensing material for accurate breath-by-breath analysis of carbon dioxide concentrations, 2) a low cost and high performance acoustic flow sensor that covers a wide dynamic range for both low flow-rate capnography and high flow-rate spirometry, 3) an adaptive sampling algorithm for correctly collecting the patient's breath without the presence of professionals, and 4) a user-friendly cell phone application for signal processing, data display and storage, and communications. This project combines the strengths of the sensor development and device fabrication capabilities of TF Health Co (doing business as Breezing Co.), bioanalytical team at ASU, and the medical expertise in research and clinical practice of VA Medical Center to develop and validate a multifunctional tool for personal monitoring of lung functions. The teams have worked together and carried out substantial experiments, which have prepared them to overcome technical challenges and reach the final goal.