Miniaturized plasma emission spectroscopy-based breath analysis for unobtrusive at-home monitoring and prediction of COPD exacerbations

Introduction

Patients suffering from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) experience persistent airway obstruction, leading to shortness of breath and extreme fatigue. They are frequently hospitalized due to acute flare-ups known as exacerbations, which are largely responsible for the morbidity and mortality associated with COPD. Exacerbations are diagnosed based on symptoms only, and diagnosis is often too late. There is an urgent need for reliable technology for unobtrusive and continuous at-home monitoring of COPD patients to enable timely exacerbation prediction and treatment.

Project Overview

The Breath-Sense consortium aims to develop the first-ever hand-held breathalyzer for non-invasive detection of breath biomarkers. RespiQ has developed a breakthrough plasma emission spectroscopy-based breath analysis technology and will collaborate with:

1. Sensor development expert SINTEF
2. User-experience and co-creation expert NeLL
3. Clinical COPD specialist KCL

The consortium will combine innovative technological advancements with human-centric user-experience research to develop and validate a transformative clinical workflow for at-home monitoring of COPD patients.

Benefits of the Technology

With this digital biomarker-based monitoring solution, patients and clinicians will benefit from:

• Reliable and timely prediction of exacerbations
• Early treatment intervention
• Prevention of up to 95% of hospitalizations

The Breath-Sense workflow will deliver a paradigm shift in COPD management, moving from symptom-based delayed diagnosis towards preventative at-home monitoring prior to symptom worsening.

Future Applications

Ultimately, the breathalyzer technology is a platform technology that can be applicable for a wide range of respiratory and gastrointestinal diseases that could also be monitored better continuously at home, such as:

• Asthma
• Lung cancer
• IBS

Since novel biomarkers can be incorporated for different disease indications, the Breath-Sense technology has the potential to improve the health of millions of people.