Clinical Perspective
In most asthmatics the severity of the condition varies greatly over relatively short periods of time and even from day to night or hour to hour which makes it very difficult to evaluate the severity of the condition and the response to treatment. Evaluation is further complicated when many of the patients, children and the elderly, cannot cooperate with the tests of lung function used to document asthma. Moreover, tests of lung function only reflect the severity of the condition at the time of the measurement and can only be used when the patient is awake and cooperative. This means that no measurements can be made at night during sleep when asthmatics often experience deterioration in their asthma.
Wheezing is the symptom of which virtually all asthmatics complain and iSonea has developed the technology to measure this wheeze with great accuracy. The devices require no active cooperation on the part of the patient; can be used in patients of all ages, and record breath sounds for analysis during normal quiet breathing. A device can be attached for prolonged recording by day or night which enables the physician to obtain a true picture of the variation of the wheezing with time. The diagnosis of asthma can be assisted by measuring the effect of a bronchodilator on the wheeze and in the patient who is well between attacks; a bronchial provocation test can be performed by administering an agent which will cause the asthmatic to wheeze while having little or no effect on other patients.
This new technology has the potential to not only to assist in making the correct diagnosis of asthma but also to assist is evaluating the true severity of the disease and the burden which is places on the patient.
Prof. Simon Godfrey MD, PhD, FRCP, FRCPCH,
