title: Development and evaluation of an improved technique for pulmonary function testing using electrical impedance pneumography intended for the diagnosis of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients.
abstract: Spirometry is regarded as the only effective method for detecting pulmonary function test (PFT) indices. In this study, a novel impedance pulmonary function measurement system (IPFS) is developed for directly assessing PFT indices. IPFS can obtain high resolution values and remove motion artifacts through real-time base impedance feedback. Feedback enables the detection of PFT indices using only both hands for convenience. IPFS showed no differences in the sitting, supine, and standing postures during the measurements, indicating that patient posture has no effect on IPFS. Mean distance analysis showed good agreement between the volume and flow signal of IPFS (p < 0.05). PFT indices were detected in subjects to differentiate a chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patient group from a normal group. The forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in the first second (FEV1), FEV1/FVC, and peak expiratory flow (PEF) in the COPD group were lower than those in the normal group by IPFS (p < 0.05). IPFS is therefore suitable for evaluating pulmonary function in normal and COPD patients. Moreover, IPFS could be useful for periodic monitoring of existing patients diagnosed with obstructive lung disease.
authors.affiliation: Biomedical Engineering Research Group, Yonsei University, Wonju 220710, Korea. hryoon@yonsei.ac.kr.
authors.forename: Myeong Heon
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Sim
authors.forename: Min Yong
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: In Cheol
authors.initials: IC
authors.lastname: Jeong
authors.forename: Sung Bin
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Suk Joong
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Yong
authors.forename: Won Ky
authors.initials: WK
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Hyung Ro
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Yoon
mesh_terms: D017097:Electric Impedance; D005541:Forced Expiratory Volume; D006801:Humans; D029424:Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012129:Respiratory Function Tests / Q000379:methods*; D013147:Spirometry