Apparatus and method for relieving dyspnoea
First Claim
1. An apparatus for relieving dyspnoea in a subject, the apparatus comprising:
- an air supply means for providing an air supply at a pressure greater than ambient for delivery to the subject, a monitoring means for monitoring at least a part of at least one breathing cycle of the subject for determining an intrinsic positive end-expiratory pressure of a breathing cycle of the subject, a control means responsive to the monitoring means for controlling the pressure of the air supply delivered to the subject during an expiratory part of the breathing cycle at a pressure similar to the determined intrinsic positive end-expiratory pressure, and;
a computing means for determining an average intrinsic positive end-expiratory pressure based on the intrinsic positive end-expiratory pressure monitored by the monitoring means over a plurality of breathing cycles, and the control means is responsive to the monitoring means for controlling the pressure of the air supply delivered to the subject during the expiratory part of each breathing cycle at a pressure similar to the determined average intrinsic positive end-expiratory pressure.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Apparatus (1) for relieving dyspnoea in an ambulatory exercising subject comprises a housing (3) to be worn on the subject, and within which a variable speed air blower motor (5) is located for delivering an air supply to the subject through a mouthpiece (10) at a pressure similar to average intrinsic positive end-expiratory pressure of the subject. A pressure transducer (25) in the mouthpiece (10) monitors the pressure during breathing cycles of the subject, and a control circuit (22) determines the average intrinsic positive end-expiratory pressure of the subject over five breathing cycles. The control circuit (22) operates the air blower motor (5) for delivering the air supply to the subject at a pressure similar to the determined average intrinsic positive end-expiratory pressure.
99 Citations
16 Claims
-
1. An apparatus for relieving dyspnoea in a subject, the apparatus comprising:
-
an air supply means for providing an air supply at a pressure greater than ambient for delivery to the subject, a monitoring means for monitoring at least a part of at least one breathing cycle of the subject for determining an intrinsic positive end-expiratory pressure of a breathing cycle of the subject, a control means responsive to the monitoring means for controlling the pressure of the air supply delivered to the subject during an expiratory part of the breathing cycle at a pressure similar to the determined intrinsic positive end-expiratory pressure, and;
a computing means for determining an average intrinsic positive end-expiratory pressure based on the intrinsic positive end-expiratory pressure monitored by the monitoring means over a plurality of breathing cycles, and the control means is responsive to the monitoring means for controlling the pressure of the air supply delivered to the subject during the expiratory part of each breathing cycle at a pressure similar to the determined average intrinsic positive end-expiratory pressure. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
-
-
11. Apparatus for relieving dyspnoea in a subject, the apparatus comprising:
-
an air supply means for providing an air supply at a pressure greater than ambient for delivery to the subject, a monitoring means for monitoring at least a part of at least one breathing cycle of the subject for determining an intrinsic positive end-expiratory pressure of a breathing cycle of the subject, a control means responsive to the monitoring means for controlling the pressure of the air supply delivered to the subject during an expiratory part of the breathing cycle at a pressure similar to the determined intrinsic positive end-expiratory pressure in which the apparatus comprises one of a mouthpiece, a nasal mask and a face mask, and;
a communicating means for communicating the air supply means with the one of the mouthpiece, nasal mask and face mask, in which an exhaust means is provided in the one of the mouthpiece, nasal mask and face mask for exhausting exhaled air from the subject, and a valving means is provided in the exhaust means, the valving means being operable under the control of the control means in response to the monitoring means for controlling the pressure of the air supply in the one of the mouthpiece, nasal mask and face mask. - View Dependent Claims (12)
-
-
13. A method for relieving dyspnoea in a subject, the method comprising the steps of:
-
delivering an air supply to the subject at a pressure greater than ambient, monitoring at least a part of at least one breathing cycle of the subject for determining an intrinsic positive end-expiratory pressure of the subject, and controlling the pressure of the air supply being delivered to the subject during an expiratory part of each breathing cycle at a pressure similar to the determined intrinsic positive end-expiratory pressure, in which an average intrinsic positive end-expiratory pressure over a plurality of breathing cycles is determined, and the pressure of the air supply being delivered to the subject during the expiratory part of each breathing cycle is controlled at a pressure similar to the determined average intrinsic positive end-expiratory pressure. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16)
-
Specification