Method and System to Determine Nasal Resistance to Airflow
A method and related system to determine nasal resistance to airflow. Some of the exemplary embodiments may be a method comprising measuring an attribute of airflow through a first naris of a patient without blocking a second naris of the patient, measuring an attribute of airflow through the second naris of the patient without blocking the first naris, and determining a value indicative of nasal resistance to airflow based on the attributes measured.
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This application is a divisional of application Ser. No. 10/850,496 entitled “Method and System to Determine Nasal Resistance to Airflow” filed May 20, 2004, incorporated by reference herein as if reproduced in full below.
STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENTNot applicable.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the invention are directed to methods and systems of calculating the resistance to airflow of the nostrils of a patient, also known as nasal resistance.
2. Background of the Invention
Knowing the nasal resistance of a person's nostrils or nares may be useful in predicting and diagnosing many ailments associated with the nose and nasopharynx. For example, knowing the nasal resistance may be useful in quantifying a degree of congestion experienced by a patient. Further, knowing the nasal resistance may be useful in determining the degree or extent of a physical abnormality, such as a deviated septum.
One related art method that may be used to determine nasal resistance is known as rhinomanography. Rhinomanography may be a technique of recording nasal pressure of an intentionally blocked naris, and simultaneously recording flow through an unblocked naris. Rhinomanography in accordance with the related art may be a multi-step process. In particular, a first naris may be blocked by a pressure gauge or meter. Thereafter, the entire nose and mouth of the patient may be covered and airflow through the unblocked naris measured in relation to the pressure developed in the blocked naris. Thereafter, the blocked and unblocked naris may be switched and a second set of data collected regarding airflow through the second naris with respect to nasal pressure.
As can be appreciated from the description above, a rhinomanographic test may be a complicated process. Airflow measured through each naris is with the other naris blocked, and therefore nasal resistance calculated is not with respect to normal breathing patterns. Further, the act of plugging a naris, so as to read nasal pressure, may cause swelling of the nasal tissue which may in turn affect airflow through that naris and skew the calculated nasal resistance.
SUMMARY OF SOME OF THE EMBODIMENTSThe problems noted above are solved in large part by a method and related system to determine nasal resistance to airflow. Some of the exemplary embodiments may be a method comprising measuring an attribute of airflow through a first naris of a patient without blocking a second naris of the patient, measuring an attribute of airflow through the second naris of the patient without blocking the first naris, and determining a value indicative of nasal resistance to airflow based on the attributes measured.
Other exemplary embodiments may be a method comprising measuring airflow through a first naris of a patient, measuring a pressure within the patient's mouth substantially simultaneously with measuring airflow through the first naris, and determining a value indicative of nasal resistance using the pressure and measured airflow.
Still other exemplary embodiments may be a method comprising determining an oral airflow rate for a patient taking an oral only breath to substantially vital capacity, determining an airflow rate through a first naris for a patient taking a nasal only breath to substantially vital capacity, and calculating a value indicative of nasal resistance using the oral airflow rate and the airflow rate through the first naris.
Yet other exemplary embodiments may be a system comprising a processor, a memory device coupled to the processor, a first sensor electrically coupled to the processor, and a second sensor electrically coupled to the processor. The first sensor fluidly couples to a first sensing tube in operational relationship to a first naris of a patient, the second sensor fluidly couples to a second sensing tube in operational relationship to a second naris of the patient, and the first and second sensors each generate an electrical signal proportional to airflow through the first and second naris respectively. The processor, executing a program stored on the memory, determines a value indicative of nasal resistance using the electrical signals proportional to airflow.
The disclosed devices and methods comprise a combination of features and advantages which enable it to overcome the deficiencies of the prior art devices. The various characteristics described above, as well as other features, will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading the following detailed description, and by referring to the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSFor a detailed description of the preferred embodiments of the invention, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings in which:
Certain terms are used throughout the following description and claims to refer to particular system components. This document does not intend to distinguish between components that differ in name but not function.
In the following discussion and in the claims, the terms “including” and “comprising” are used in an open-ended fashion, and thus should be interpreted to mean “including, but not limited to . . . ”. Also, the term “couple” or “couples” is intended to mean either an indirect or direct connection. Thus, if a first device couples to a second device, that connection may be through a direct connection, or through an indirect connection via other devices and connections.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTSThe various embodiments of the invention are directed to determining a value proportional to, or indicative of, the nasal resistance of a patient. In accordance with embodiments of the invention, the value indicative of nasal resistance is determined by individually measuring airflow through each naris during an inspiration, possibly to full vital capacity. In this specification, and in the claims, the term “vital capacity” shall mean the volume of air required to substantially fill a patient's lungs. In some embodiments, the time required to reach vital capacity is also measured. The inhalation to vital capacity is preferably at a maximum effort (maximum inspired air velocity), but similar results may be achieved at less than maximum effort and/or at less than vital capacity of the lungs.
Referring still to
In accordance with yet further alternative embodiments, the value indicative of nasal resistance may be the volume inspired through a naris divided by the total volume. Referring still to
The embodiments described to this point have relied on individually measuring airflow through each naris during an inspiration, and determining a value indicative of nasal resistance based on the measured airflows. Alternative embodiments of the invention use not only measured airflow, but also a pressure reading. Unlike the rhinomanography which uses the pressure within an artificially blocked naris, pressure readings in accordance with these embodiments of the invention are taken orally during the inspiration. More particularly, the pressure reading is the pressure within the mouth and/or throat during nasal only inspiration.
where NR is the nasal resistance, ΔP is the measured difference between atmospheric pressure and the pressure within the mouth and/or throat, and FR is the airflow rate. In cases where a total nasal resistance is desired, the airflow rate FR is the total average or instantaneous airflow, for example at point 34. If nasal resistance of a single naris is desired, the term FR may be the instantaneous and/or average airflow of the left naris (point 36) or the right naris (point 38). Nasal resistance calculation in these embodiments is preferably made using values of the various parameters at the minimum pressure developed during the inspiration; however, the nasal resistance calculation may be based on values of the various parameters at any time during the inspiration.
Embodiments using a mask such as illustrated in
In embodiments where the full narial airflow is measured, such as by embodiments using the mask illustrated in
Measuring the oral airflow provides an indication of vital capacity, and is also used to correlate airflow measurements made with the bifurcated nasal cannula to actual airflow. Thus, next step may be measuring narial only airflow (block 74), possibly at maximum effort. Because only a portion of the total airflow into each naris is sensed by the cannula, the next step may be correlating total narial volume (of step 74) sensed by the cannula to vital capacity of step 72, and the process ends (block 78).
Consider, for purposes of explanation, that vital capacity of a patient's lung is ten units, and that an oral only inspiration takes two seconds to fill the lungs. Further consider that in a nasal only inspiration taking six seconds to fill the lungs, seven units flow through the left naris, and three units flow through the right naris. Table 1 below illustrates the volumes, times and airflow rates of this exemplary situation.
As illustrated in Table 1, the average oral airflow rate (total volume divided by time) is 5 units per second in the exemplary situation. For the left naris, the airflow rate is 1.17 units per second, and for the right naris the airflow rate is 0.5 units per second. Thus, the total narial airflow rate is 1.67 units per second in this exemplary situation.
In some embodiments, calculating the value indicative of nasal resistance is a function of the oral airflow rate, the total narial airflow rate, and the airflow rate of each of the left naris and right naris considered individually.
After calculating the oral airflow rate, the next step may be calculating the narial only airflow rate (block 84). That is, after correlating the measured narial volume to the oral volume (for cannula-based determinations), the total narial volume is divided by the time to achieve the volume, preferably at or near vital capacity. In the exemplary data of Table 1, the total narial volume of 10 units is therefore divided by the total time to inhale the 10 units of six seconds to arrive at a total narial airflow rate of 1.67 units per second. The next step in the process may be calculating a percentage of the narial airflow rate in relation to the oral airflow rate (block 86). In the exemplary data of Table 1, this percentage may be calculated by dividing the narial airflow rate of 1.67 units per second by the oral flow rate of 5 units per second, and multiplying by 100 to arrive at 33.4 percent. After calculating the percent narial airflow of the oral airflow, the next step in the process may be calculating the contribution of the left naris to the calculated percentage (block 88). In the exemplary data of Table 1, the left naris represents seven units of the total 10 units, and 0.7 multiplied the percent narial of oral airflow of 33 percent equals 23 percent. Likewise, the contribution of the right naris may be calculated (block 90). In the exemplary data of Table 1, the left naris represents three units of a total of 10 units, and therefore the contribution may be 0.3 multiplied by 33 percent or 10 percent. In alternative embodiments, the contribution of the individual naris may be calculated directly as a percentage of the individual naris airflow rate to the total oral airflow rate. In the exemplary data of Table 1 then, the airflow rate of the left naris of 1.17 units per second may be divided by the oral airflow rate of 5 units per second, and multiply by 100 to arrive directly at the 23 percent. Likewise, the airflow rate of the right naris of 0.5 units per second may be divided by the oral airflow rate of 5 units per second and multiplied by 100 to arrive at 10 percent. Thereafter, the process ends (block 92).
The nasal function test device 100 of
In the illustration of
In alternative embodiments of the invention, the functionality of the microcontroller may be implemented using individual components, such as an individual microprocessor, individual RAM, individual ROM, and an individual A/D converter.
Still referring to
The nasal function test device 100 as illustrated in
The nasal function test device 100 may also comprise a power supply 138. In accordance with at least some embodiments of the invention, the power supply 138 may be capable of taking alternating current (AC) power available at a standard wall outlet and converting it to one or more direct current (DC) voltages for use by the various electronics within the system. In alternative embodiments where the nasal function test device 100 may be portable, the power supply 138 may have the capability of switching between converting the AC wall power to DC, or drawing current from on-board or external batteries, and converting to voltages needed by the devices within the nasal function test device. In yet further embodiments, the power supply 138 may be housed external to the nasal function test device 100.
The above discussion is meant to be illustrative of the principles and various embodiments of the present invention. Numerous variations and modifications will become apparent to those skilled in the art once the above disclosure is fully appreciated. It is intended that the following claims be interpreted to embrace all such variations and modifications.
Claims
1. A method comprising:
- measuring airflow through a first naris of a patient;
- measuring a pressure within the patient's mouth substantially simultaneously with measuring airflow through the first naris; and
- determining a value indicative of nasal resistance using the pressure and the airflow.
2. The method as defined in claim 1 further comprising determining the value indicative of nasal resistance of the first naris by dividing the pressure by the airflow.
3. The method as defined in claim 1 further comprising:
- measuring airflow through the second naris substantially simultaneously with measuring airflow through the first naris;
- wherein determining the value indicative of nasal resistance further comprises dividing the pressure by the combined airflow of the first naris and the second naris.
4. The method as defined in claim 1 further comprising measuring during an inhalation.
5. The method as defined in claim 4 further comprising measuring during the inhalation to vital capacity.
6. The method as defined in claim 5 further comprising measuring during the inhalation to vital capacity at substantially maximum effort on the part of the patient.
7. A method comprising:
- determining an oral airflow rate for a patient taking an oral only breath to substantially vital capacity;
- determining an airflow rate through a first naris for the patient taking a nasal only breath to substantially vital capacity; and
- calculating a value indicative of nasal resistance using the oral airflow rate and the airflow rate through the first naris.
8. The method as defined in claim 7 further comprising:
- determining an airflow rate through a second naris substantially simultaneously with determining the airflow rate through the first naris;
- wherein calculating the value indicative of nasal resistance further comprises calculating using the oral airflow rate and a combined airflow rate of the first naris and the second naris.
9. The method as defined in claim 8 further comprising calculating a value indicative of the nasal resistance by determining a percentage of the combined airflow rate in relation to the oral airflow rate.
10. The method as defined in claim 7 further comprising calculating a value indicative of the nasal resistance of the first naris by determining a percentage of the airflow rate through the first naris in relation to the oral airflow rate.
Type: Application
Filed: Mar 26, 2007
Publication Date: Aug 16, 2007
Applicant: ACOBA, L.L.C. (Chesterfield, MO)
Inventors: Alonzo Aylsworth (Wildwood, MO), Lawrence Spector (Austin, TX), Mark Scott (Dripping Springs, TX)
Application Number: 11/691,261
International Classification: A61M 16/00 (20060101); A61M 15/08 (20060101); A61B 5/08 (20060101);