For people suffering from respiratory conditions such as COPD, asthma and emphysema, a major daily trial they face is trying to loosen and remove the thick mucus that can build up in their lungs.
The lung flute is a hand-held device that has been designed to help to loosen, mobilize and eliminate airway secretions and mucus build-up. It is simple to use by just blowing into it, just like you would to blow out a candle. It was designed four years ago and approved as a treatment for COPD and now a study by the university of Buffalo has concluded that it is effective at helping patients to breathe more easily.
Its design is based on vibrations. When you blow into the flute it causes an integrated reed to vibrate, which produces a low-frequency sound waves. These acoustic vibrations travel down to the patients’ lungs and the waves break up the mucus, which can then be cleared more easily by the patient when they exhale.
When the test subjects used the device twice a day they found that they could breathe a lot more easily and their respiratory tests results were far more improved compared to the test group not using the device. They also experienced less coughing and sputum production. The study also suggested that using the flute results in a decreased likelihood of COPD flare-up and that it may be more effective than similar devices currently used by cystic fibrosis sufferers.
This device; so simple in design, based on simple science, is non-invasive and easy to use could make so many patient’s lives so much more bearable, improve their health status and quality of life.
“This study confirms that the Lung Flute improves symptoms and health status in COPD patients, decreasing the impact of the disease on patients and improving their quality of life,” says Sanjay Sethi, MD, principal author of the study. He has led a series of clinical trials demonstrating the safety and efficiency of the Lung Flute, including those that played a key role in the FDA’s approval of the device for diagnostic and therapeutic uses.
The device has also been approved for use by laboratories to obtain deep lung sputum samples for analysis and the flute is currently the focal point of more research into its use for asthma patients and for possible diagnostic use in tuberculosis and lung cancer.
References: http://www.lungflute.com and http://www.buffalo.edu and http://www.gizmag.com
