Mask Helpful for Exercise-Induced Asthma

A new study shows that a heat-exchange face mask may be helpful for people suffering from exercise-induced asthma (EIA).

The Qxtec personal respiratory heat exchanger (PRHE), a new heat-exchanger device built into a mask that warms and humidifies inspired air, marketed by AllergyZone (Louisville, KY, USA), works by conserving the heat and humidity of exhaled air and applying it to inhaled air. The heat exchanger is up to 80% efficient and does not require batteries. The Qxtec module can be washed hundreds of times without deterioration.

In a new study, researchers from the University of Colorado (Denver, USA) ran a series of tests on 18 subjects while they were breathing cold air (-25 to -15°C) through either a placebo or active heat-exchanger mask. Spirometry was performed before and at five, 15, and 30 minutes after exercise challenge. In the first part of the study, 13 patients with cold exercise-induced asthma completed treadmill tests while breathing cold air through a real or fake heat mask. Although the cold air caused lung function to worsen in both groups, the effect was much less pronounced in the group given real heat masks.

In the second part of the study, five patients breathed cold air and then performed three treadmill tests with the heat mask, with the airway-opening drug albuterol or without either intervention. The mask and albuterol appeared to be comparable in preserving lung function. The results of the trial were reported in the May 2006 issue of Chest.

"This heat exchanger mask blocks cold exercise-induced decline in lung function at least as effectively as albuterol pretreatment,” wrote David A. Beuther, M.D., and Richard J. Martin, M.D., from the University of Colorado and the National Jewish Medical and Research Center (Denver, CO, USA). "This mask promises to be a useful adjunctive therapy for asthmatic patients who work, live, or exercise in cold environments.”



Related Links:
AllergyZone
University of Colorado
National Jewish Medical and Research Center