World Pneumonia Day
November 12th is World Pneumonia Day and this year it is held during a global pandemic that is dramatically increasing pneumonia deaths from COVID-19 and other causes.
Pneumonia is the single biggest infectious killer of adults and children. More than 1.5 million children die every year from pneumonia, more than from any other disease.
The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has highlighted the danger of pneumonia, particularly in adults, with almost 47 million cases globally and 1.2 million deaths to date. This could increase ‘all-cause’ pneumonia deaths by more than 75%. No other infection causes this burden of death.
COVID-19 is a viral infection of the respiratory system which often results in pneumonia. This pneumonia can progress to chronic lung infection or pulmonary fibrosis and recent studies have determined that up to 20% of all serious COVID patients have restrictive lung function at 3 months following infection. The long term progress of this pulmonary fibrosis remains uncertain. Long term home care monitoring of these COVID recovery patients will be important to define the natural history of their recovery.
Uscom SpiroSonic Spirometer
Uscom develops and manufactures specialised digital pulmonary monitoring devices, including some of the world’s most accurate and simple to use spirometers.
Uscom uses PureFlow technology which combines an array of high-fidelity ultrasonic sensors in our spirometers to create the most accurate measures of lung function available. The SpiroSonic devices are the most reliable and simple to operate ultrasonic spirometers. They are easy to disinfect, require no daily calibration, and provide digital connectivity. The devices can be coupled with PC, tablet or mobile software and applications to provide remote home care telemonitoring of pulmonary disease.
The SpiroSonic devices can be used for assessment of acute and chronic lung diseases including lung cancer, pneumonia, asthma, COPD, occupational lung disease and COVID-19 recovery monitoring.
USCOM 1A
USCOM 1A can save COVID-19 patients with early identification of LV dysfunction and precision therapy to preserve DO2. COVID-19 will pass but seasonal infections, pneumonia and sepsis are ever universal threats to health. This pandemic has identified a need to increase equipment levels in ICU’s to support patients with these infections. While there is a focus on ventilation, the majority of patients die from cardiovascular failure so improved CV monitoring is vital, and USCOM 1A is the recommended technology for this.
VENTITEST
The VENTITEST device was developed from Uscom’s digital ultrasonic spirometry technology in Uscom’s R&D centre in Budapest to meet the rapidly increasing demand for accurate ventilator testing. Ventilator sales have dramatically increased for installation in critical care units worldwide to assist management of severe cases of COVID-19 and other infectious diseases.
VENTITEST is an innovative multi-path digital ultrasonic ventilator testing solution. The integrated touch-screen and high capacity Lithium-ion battery allow for standalone operation and quick on-site testing for validation of ventilator outputs, while the VENTITEST-S (PC software) provides data logging, highly detailed data display, customizable flow, volume, pressure charts and reporting of results.
Reference:
Arnold DT, Hamilton FW, Milne A, et al. Patient outcomes after hospitalisation with COVID-19 and implications for follow-up; results from a prospective UK cohort. medRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.08.12.20173526
https://www.who.int/life-course/news/events/world-pneumonia-day-2018/en/
https://stoppneumonia.org/latest/world-pneumonia-day/