Obstructive respiratory disease simulation device.

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Respiratory Physiology
• Medical Device Development

Background:

• Respiratory diseases like COPD significantly increase healthcare costs, morbidity, and mortality.
• Current methods for studying COPD respiratory mechanics often involve ill or fragile subjects, or invasive and expensive equipment.
• There is a need for non-invasive, cost-effective methods to obtain COPD-like respiratory data for model validation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a low-cost device that simulates the respiratory mechanics of COPD in healthy individuals.
• To provide an alternative method for collecting COPD-specific respiratory data without testing patients.
• To enable initial validation of respiratory mechanics models using simulated COPD data.

Main Methods:

• A 3D-printed device utilizing a combination of high and low resistance outlets was designed to mimic COPD's non-linear expiratory resistance and gas trapping.
• The device was integrated with an open-access venturi-based flow sensor to measure key respiratory parameters: pressure, flow, and tidal volume.
• Healthy subjects were used to collect COPD-like breathing data non-invasively.

Main Results:

• The device successfully simulated the characteristic non-linear pressure and flow profiles of COPD breathing.
• The simulator enabled the collection of patient-specific COPD-like breathing data from healthy subjects.
• The majority of device components were fabricated using affordable 3D printing technology (Prusa mini, PLA filament).

Conclusions:

• The developed 3D-printed device offers a low-cost, non-invasive solution for simulating COPD respiratory mechanics.
• This simulator facilitates the collection of valuable respiratory data for validating physiological models, reducing reliance on patient testing.
• The approach minimizes the need for invasive procedures and expensive equipment in respiratory research.