Breathing Device Could Transform the Lives of COPD Patients

A breakthrough closed-circuit breathing device being developed could transform the lives of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

The new technology is based on a closed circuit oxygen device invented by the British rocket scientist Tom Bourdillon, who hoped that it would help take him conquer mount Everest in 1953. Bourdillon and his climbing partner Charles Evans, a British brain surgeon, set out on the first ever summit attempt breathing pure oxygen from the device. It helped them climb higher than any man had ever been before, and at speeds that have rarely been matched since. However, the two men were just 90 meters from the summit when Evans' device malfunctioned, dashing their hopes of becoming the most celebrated mountaineers in the world. Three days later, Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay made the first ascent of Mount Everest, using open circuit oxygen devices.

Bourdillon's research was rediscovered by Jeremy Windsor, Ph.D., and Roger McMorrow, Ph.D., mountaineering scientists at the University College London (UCL, United Kingdom) Center for Altitude, Space and Extreme Environment Medicine (CASE), who had the idea to redevelop it into a modern breathing circuit for climbers. Dr. McMorrow showed his mountaineering prototype to Dr. Jeremy Russell, head of research and development at Smiths Medical International (Watford, United Kingdom) who quickly realized that the prototype for mountaineers had the potential to evolve into a ground-breaking device for COPD patients, as well as for other patients weaning from oxygen in hospital and those on home oxygen. In 2007, the device was successfully tested on Mount Everest at the Smiths Medical high altitude laboratory (Namche Bazaar, Nepal) at an altitude of 3,400 meters as part of the Caudwell Xtreme Everest Study (CXE, London, UK), a medical research project conducted by CASE.

"We are hoping that this new technology will transform the lives of people living with COPD by allowing them to breathe more easily, exercise and ultimately reduce their dependence on oxygen. It is incredible to think that this breakthrough device is based on a British invention designed to help the first mountaineers reach the top of the world,” said Dr. Russell.

Exercise is important for COPD patients but the size of current open circuit systems mean that patients are often confined to their hospital beds or treated at home with large oxygen cylinders that severely restrict their mobility. On the other hand, portable open circuit systems are not able to deliver high enough volumes of oxygen for long enough to permit exercise, since in an open circuit system the faster a person breathes the more they dilute the oxygen with ordinary air. This means that if a patient dependent on oxygen starts to exercise their oxygen levels actually drop as their breathing grows faster. The new portable closed circuit system should deliver a very high concentration of oxygen for a sustained period, helping to keep oxygen levels constant no matter how fast or slow a patient is breathing. Closed circuits have previously been used by military Special Forces frogmen (since there are no bubbles), mine rescue workers, firefighters, and in bioterrorism suits.

Related Links:
University College London
Smiths Medical International
Caudwell Xtreme Everest Study