Secretion-Removal from the Respiratory System by a Combination of Flow and Acoustics

Layman's Abstract Application Number: 2017147 Secretion-Removal from the Respiratory System by a Combination of Oscillatory Flow and Acoustic Waves PIs: Israel: David Katoshevski, BGU; Yuval Cavari , Soroka/BGU; Rafael Tadmor, BGU US: Ephraim J. Gutmark, U. of Cincinnati; Iris Little, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Airway secretions is a major component in the pathophysiology of different disease states: Bronchiolitis, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), Cystic Fibrosis (CF) and many more. Small children are susceptible to airway collusion due to increased secretion because of smaller airways cross section. Complete block of the the airways may cause partial lung collapse (atelectasis), which prompts oxygen therapy and in severe cases mechanical ventilation. Bronchiolitis, is an extremely common disease, actually every child under the age of 2 years will have bronchiolitis in the first and second year of life. 2-3% of all children will be hospitalized and the more severe cases will be admitted to the Pediatric Intensive Care. The burden of this disease during the winter months is enormous, pediatric wards are filled with patients with bronchiolitis and the economic consequences is extremely high. The treatment is supportive, and hospitalization time is about 4.5 days. If we a had a tool that can alleviate the need for oxygen supply due to ability to expel secretions, many admissions could have been avoided and the length of hospital stay as well as the frequency and severity of complications could be reduced. The tool we have today for expelling secretions is not effective enough, is time consuming (15-20 minutes twice a day) and require an experienced personal to deliver it. The goal of this research proposal is to develop a tool to help remove the mucus in the most effective way, take less time and a tool that could be done by a lay man – the patients primary caregiver.

We were excited to see that the idea indeed works, and our preliminary results show that mucus expulsion using a combination of oscillating air flow and acoustic vibrations is much more effective and expedites the process. We will study the most effective way to combine these techniques using both computer simulations and experiments on models of airways. Using this information, we will develop a tool to be used not only for pediatric patients with bronchiolitis, but also for various diseases in the pediatric population as well as in the adult population.