MetroHealth invention will help neurological patients breathe easier - cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Jack Wolf is a young man on the go – getting his driver’s license, attending classes at the University of Akron and zip-lining with his Venture Crew Boy Scout program. He’s training an adorable and smart Goldendoodle as a companion dog.

The 19-year-old, who lives in Broadview Heights, is also dealing with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a genetic disorder that causes progressive muscle degeneration and weakness. He uses a wheelchair. He needs one device for occasional help with breathing and a second device to help him cough and clear mucus from his airways.

It’s tough for Wolf and his father, Brian Wolf, to lug that equipment on camping and zip-lining outings with his Venture Crew, a Boy Scouts program focused on adventure and leadership.

“It looks like we’re moving in,” quipped Brian Wolf.

A new device, invented at MetroHealth System, combines breathing and cough assist devices into one apparatus. It could improve the quality of life for patients with neurological disorders like Jack Wolf.

The combination device, currently in the pre-prototype stage, will be small, portable and battery-powered. “You could easily put it on the back of a wheelchair,” said Dr. David Birnkrant, director of MetroHeath System’s division of pediatric pulmonology.

Jack Wolf, who is one of Birnkrant’s patients, has not used the combination device but thinks it will save patients and caregivers time and energy.

It also will provide a psychological boost to parents of children with neuromuscular diseases, Brian Wolf said.

“It’s a hard pill to swallow – ‘I need something else for my kid’,” Brian Wolf said. “It’s another fact that the disease is progressing. Having a dual device – here’s one piece of equipment and you’re done.”

As a respiratory expert who works with children and young adults, Birnkrant knows about the existing equipment and how it could be improved.

Those with muscular dystrophy, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and other neuromuscular diseases often use a bilevel positive airway pressure ventilator, commonly called a BiPap. A face mask or nasal plugs, connected to a ventilator, are worn over the face, and the machine supplies pressurized air into the lungs.

People with weakened respiratory muscles find it hard to cough to clear their airways of mucus, placing them at risk of serious respiratory infection.

Cough assist machines have a mask that is placed over the mouth and nose; it inflates the lungs and uses suction to pull mucous out through the mouth.

Currently, the two devices cannot be used simultaneously. Patients must remove the breathing machine and swap it with the cough assistance device, then have the breathing machine hooked up again.

Birnkrant’s combination device incorporates both a face mask that fits over the nose for lung ventilation, and a mouthpiece that sucks mucus out of windpipes and lungs. The face mask and mouthpiece are attached to a machine that regulates the flow of air. A switch will allow users to toggle between coughing and breathing easily.

The new device can be programmed, allowing health care providers to adjust air flow and pressure remotely. It can also be programmed to assist coughing at predetermined times during the day.

“It’s about patient convenience,” said ABM president and founder Chad Boerst. MetroHealth is collaborating with the medical device company, based in Charleston, South Carolina, to bring Birnkrant’s device to market in 2021. ABM plans to incorporate the doctor’s invention into its upcoming BiWaze ventilation platform.

ABM Respiratory will first release a cough assist device this year that will be used as the foundation of the combination device, Boerst said.

The combination device will cost about $10,000; ABM expects the cost could be covered by insurance.

`

http://bit.ly/2MwHMEk