"Lung Flute" Helps COPD Patients Breathe Easier
By Chuck Seegert, Ph.D.
A new device from University of Buffalo (UB) researchers provides long term chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) benefits when used over a 6 month period. The simple device promises to improve quality of life for those suffering from this prevalent disease.
COPD is often caused by smoking. Its effects include chronic bronchitis, emphysema, and increased sputum production. Typically, COPD patients experience a loss of airflow into their lungs that worsens over time, eventually leading to death. Presently, it is the third leading cause of death in the United States, according to a recent press release from the University of Buffalo.
Among other treatments, some relief is provided when a patient is able to clear the mucus from their lungs, which is the target of this latest innovation from the University of Buffalo and a company called Medical Acoustics, according to the press release. By blowing into the handheld device, acoustic waves are generated that loosen mucus from the patient’s lungs, allowing it to be cleared.
“This study confirms that the Lung Flute improves symptoms and health status in COPD patients, decreasing the impact of the disease on patients and improving their quality of life,” said Sanjay Sethi, M.D., principal author of the study and professor and chief of the division of pulmonary, critical care, and sleep medicine in the Department of Medicine at the UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.
The 26 week study was published in Clinical and Translational Medicine, and it involved twice daily treatments for the 69 patients involved. Moderately vigorous exhalation while blowing through the device was shown to provide benefit to patients when symptoms were measured with a Chronic COPD questionnaire (CCQ). A number of other endpoints were measured, including exercise capacity, over the course of the study. A significant improvement in symptoms was seen, along with an improvement in health status and fewer exacerbations, or flare ups.
A study end point that captured many of the benefits was the Body-Mass Index, Airflow Obstruction, Dyspnea, and Exercise Capacity (BODE) score, which was measured often throughout the study.
“The BODE index provides a more comprehensive assessment of COPD patients,” explained Sethi in the press release. “As the disease worsens, the BODE index goes up as it did in the control group. But for patients using the Lung Flute, the BODE index stayed flat.”
Medical Acoustics plans to market the device, which recently received FDA clearance, through collaborations with the University of Buffalo team.
“Dr. Sethi is recognized as one of the leading COPD research professionals in the United States,” said Frank Codella, CEO of Medical Acoustics, in the press release. “His research has resulted in the Lung Flute receiving FDA clearances for both obtaining deep lung sputum samples for diagnostic use and for airway clearance therapy as well as a series of Phase IV studies such as the one being reported this week.”
Using devices that influence the pressure of the air, like the Lung Flute, is gaining credibility in the COPD treatment space. In a similar study that was recently reviewed in an article on Med Device Online, the Aerobika Oscillating Positive Expiratory Pressure (OPEP) device was shown to improve COPD outcomes, as well.
Image Credit: Long Flute®