SPAR as a novel assessment in asthma
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The use of Symmetric Projection Attractor Reconstruction (SPAR) as a novel assessment tool in Asthma
IRAS ID
304559
Contact name
Gerrard Rafferty
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
King's College London
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
EP/W00240X/1, Funder award ref (EPSRC/AsthmaUK)
Duration of Study in the UK
3 years, 1 months, 1 days
Research summary
Assessment of patients with asthma generally invovles measuring airflow at the mouth during maximal breathing efforts. While widely applied, such measurements are relatively insensitive and often relate poorly to overall disease severity. This lack of sensitivity leads to difficulty diagnosing early lung disease or ensuring early treatment following mild deterioration, which may have substantial long lasting effects. Existing techniques also have substantial shortcomings, and limited application in certain patient populations such as preschool children or those unable to perform the breathing manouevres during testing due to pain or breathlessness. Alternative approaches to assessment are therefore sought
The shape of the airflow waveform during breathing contains important information about lung function. We have developed a novel mathematical method (symmetric project attractor reconstruction - SPAR) which allows us to examine the shape of the ariflow waveform by transforming it into a simpler image. By visualising the airflow waveform in a different manner, small changes in the original waveform shape are magnified and can be readily measured. By extracting these new features from the aiflow waveforms, we may improve the sensitivity of detecting small but important changes in underlying lung function. Our aim is to establish whether applying SPAR to the airflow waveform recorded during resting breathing will allow accurate discrimination of differences in lung function between healthy subjects and patients with asthma and across a range of disease severities.
This early stage research will involve measuring breathing at rest in a large group of healthy subjects and patients with newly diagnosed asthma and relating these to standard measures of lung function. In a smaller group of healthy subjets and patients with asthma, we will also apply a standard tst used to diagnose aathma which alters lung function to examine how the SPAR technique responds to such changes.
REC name
South West - Frenchay Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
22/SW/0058
Date of REC Opinion
3 May 2022
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion