Method and apparatus for intra-esophageal cough detection

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Gastroenterology
• Respiratory Medicine

Background:

• Gastro-esophageal reflux disease (GERD) is a frequent cause of chronic cough.
• A cost-effective diagnostic method to establish a causal link between GERD and cough is currently unavailable.
• Understanding the relationship between reflux and cough is crucial for effective patient management.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce and evaluate an innovative intra-esophageal cough detection probe.
• To assess the feasibility of using a fiber optic pressure sensor for identifying cough events.
• To lay the groundwork for a tool that can simultaneously monitor cough and reflux events.

Main Methods:

• Development of an intra-esophageal catheter with a miniature white-light interferometric fiber optic pressure sensor.
• Custom encapsulation of the sensor to enhance sensitivity to cough-induced pressure variations.
• In vitro and in vivo testing of the developed cough detection probe.

Main Results:

• The proposed catheter demonstrated successful identification of cough episodes in experimental tests.
• The sensor's custom encapsulation optimized its sensitivity to cough-related pressure changes.
• Initial results confirm the feasibility of the developed technology for cough detection.

Conclusions:

• The developed intra-esophageal cough detection probe shows promise as a diagnostic tool.
• This technology can be integrated with existing reflux monitoring systems for combined 24-hour ambulatory monitoring.
• The ultimate goal is to quantify the temporal correlation between cough and reflux events for improved diagnosis and treatment.