Feasibility & Validation of Remote Lung Function Measurements
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Comparison of remote camera measures of lung function compared to standard spirometry
IRAS ID
168309
Contact name
JW Dodd
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
North Bristol NHS Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 7 months, 10 days
Research summary
At North Bristol Lung Centre we are continually trying to improve the diagnosis and monitoring of our patients with lung disease. Working with colleagues in the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Bristol, we would like to test a new non invasive way of measuring lung function and compare it to the current method of blowing into a spirometer.
Spirometry is an essential investigation for diagnosis and assessment of severity in people with COPD and other respiratory conditions, it is used in every respiratory unit and across primary care. It requires subjects to blow into a tube which measures volume and flow of expired air. It involves specialist equipment and training to perform and interpret. Not all patients are capable of performing spirometry, in particular children, frail, cognitively impaired and those experiencing a flare or exacerbation of symptoms. Remote lung function assessment technology has the potential to enable assessment of lung function in these groups of patients. In the future it is also hoped that it could be used to improve respiratory disease monitoring outside the healthcare environment such as in the patients home.
This new method uses the latest infra-red depth detection cameras to measure chest wall movement. (N.B this does not capture identifiable images). We would like to record participants chest wall movements while blowing into the spirometer.
REC name
North West - Liverpool Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/NW/0040
Date of REC Opinion
22 Dec 2014
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion