The Technology
Heart failure is a pandemic in the western world. Dyspnea is the most cardinal symptom of heart failure. Dyspnea is associated with poor quality of life and causes frequent rehospitalization. The main problem is optimization of treatment and prevention of frequent hospitalization. The governing paradigm is that heart failure causes hemodynamic congestion (increase in the pulmonary vascular bed pressure) and lung congestion (increase in the amount of fluid in the lung) which decrease lung compliance and increase the resistance to flow (lung viscosity). These changes in lung mechanical properties increase the respiratory effort required to maintain the adequate ventilation.
Existing solutions are based on the above paradigm and aim to detect the development of either:
- hemodynamic congestion by measuring the pressures in the pulmonary artery or in the left atria,
- lung congestion and accumulation of fluids within the lung by measuring the intrathoracic impedance or by utilizing radar technology. However these solutions fail to resolve the problem.
This novel technology presents a method for objectively quantifying the respiratory effort aiming to target the treatment toward the process which leads to progressive deterioration. It consists of assessing the severity of dyspnea by measuring the respiratory effort, and turns a subjective syndrome into objective sign. This is done either via invasive means (utilizing intrathoracic pressure sensors) or using non-invasive (wearable) sensors.
Advantages
- Objective
- Possibility to apply through implanted sensors or wearable sensors
- Enables subclinical monitoring (before the patients become symptomatic
- Weighs multiple physiological indices rather than a single one
- Targets the respiratory effort, which plays a pivotal role in the cardiopulmonary vicious cycle
Applications and Opportunities
- Monitoring Heart Failure patients
Business Development Contacts