Delivery, Transport, and Uptake of Inhaled Medical Gases

慢性呼吸道疾病对患者健康状况和医疗保健费用的全球影响是惊人的。据世界卫生组织全球防治慢性呼吸系统疾病联盟估计，全世界有超过10亿人患有哮喘、慢性阻塞性肺病（COPD）、睡眠呼吸暂停和肺动脉高压等疾病。仅慢性阻塞性肺病就占全球死亡总数的约5%，在医院治疗慢性阻塞性肺病恶化以及在家庭卫生保健环境中管理症状相关的卫生保健费用是巨大的。显然需要将改进的治疗方法和医疗设备纳入疾病管理规划；然而，随着医疗保健支出（包括研发支出）的压力不断增加，这些进步必须以低于先前预期的成本实现。因此，迫切需要通过使用具有代表性的分析和实验模型来简化开发，以便在早期阶段更好地审查潜在的创新，并确定那些少数有足够希望承担临床研究相关费用的创新。**工程分析和设计在医疗器械的开发中起着至关重要的作用。申请人的愿景是建立一个研究项目，专门用于控制和监测治疗气体和蒸汽输送到肺部的特定子类别的设备。除了气体化合物在麻醉、重症监护和肺部成像中的专门应用外，还包括用于给氧的设备，这是医院、急诊和家庭护理环境中的主要应用。目前，全球有超过200万患者在家中接受长期氧疗。随着人口老龄化，以及越来越多的鼓励在家治疗而不是在医院或诊所治疗，这一数字预计会增加。与此同时，最近的临床研究已经得出结论，现有的供氧装置的机械和临床性能是高度可变的，并且使用当前方法评估的明显相等的技术特征并不能保证相等的治疗功能。**通过强调用于分析输送设备与患者之间接口的实验方法，预计所提出的研究将在建立具有代表性的设备评估测试平台以及通过对现有设备性能进行深入的工程分析来识别未满足的技术要求方面发挥主导作用。这些将成为设计新型设备的关键工具和输入，以改善给药的一致性、监测交付量，并最终改善患者的健康结果。实验测量将与描述人体呼吸道中流体力学和运输过程的数学模型相结合，借鉴了呼吸生理学和吸入毒理学方面的大量档案出版物。通过这种方式，体内发生的气体输送和肺力学将与可以在设备水平上监测和控制身体外部的参数联系起来。**本研究项目预计将对未来医用气体装置的发展产生重大影响。将鼓励本科生和研究生学员尽早与医疗保健专业人员和行业联系人合作，为其项目指定关键要求和可交付成果，并就新颖的解决方案寻求知识产权保护。该计划的毕业生将做好充分准备，参与将加拿大定位为新兴的医疗设备创新中心。

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.