As interest in respiratory health management grows due to environmental pollution, smoking, and the spread of viruses, a health management system capable of efficiently managing chronic respiratory diseases, which are known to be one of the most expensive diseases to treat, has been developed for the first time in Korea, attracting attention.

The Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials (President Park Sang-jin), under the Ministry of Science and ICT, has developed a modular respiratory health management system that can self-diagnose and track various chronic respiratory diseases, such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, with a single device.

The modular respiratory disease health management system developed by the research team led by Senior Researcher Dong-gyu Lee of the Medical Machinery Research Lab at the Daegu Convergence Technology Research Center of the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials can effectively diagnose, treat, and rehabilitate various chronic respiratory diseases.

The system is modular, with the main body (handle) housing diagnostic and treatment modules, which can be swapped and combined to suit specific needs. Furthermore, a mobile application allows for easy management of diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation history.

Until now, for the diagnosis, management, treatment, and rehabilitation of respiratory diseases, it was necessary to purchase expensive separate medical equipment for each disease or visit a hospital. On the other hand, this system allows for multi-purpose rehabilitation treatment and condition management, as well as continuous management of data measured from a single device.

The treatment module can provide phototherapy, inhalation/spray therapy, nebulizer spray therapy, etc., and the rehabilitation treatment module can also provide rehabilitation training for respiratory muscles.

The breath diagnosis module can simultaneously measure expiratory velocity, expiratory volume, FENO (exhaled nitric oxide gas), and acetone gas concentration, which are essential for monitoring respiratory disease conditions such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Currently commercialized asthma diagnostic medical devices can only measure FENO (exhaled nitric oxide), but the newly developed module can simultaneously measure acetone concentration, peak expiratory flow rate (PEF), forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1), and forced vital capacity (FVC) in addition to FENO (exhaled nitric oxide).

In addition, the accuracy of measurement was improved by applying a correction algorithm that utilizes data such as respiratory complex gas, high-speed expiratory velocity, and humidity, and based on the collected data, efficient treatment and rehabilitation training guides for health management can also be provided through the use of artificial intelligence technology.

The developed diagnostic module was tested in a preclinical trial at the Department of Respiratory Medicine at Seoul National University Bundang Hospital to compare its measurement values with existing asthma medical devices. The company plans to pursue ongoing technical cooperation for clinical trials and commercialization of the entire module.

Senior Researcher Lee Dong-gyu said, “We expect that this newly developed technology will be of great help in self-management, including diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation training, for patients suffering from chronic respiratory diseases.” He added, “We will work with medical institutions and the industrial sector to ensure that this technology can be put to practical use in the future, and we will dedicate ourselves to research and development for the healthy lives of the public.”

Meanwhile, this project is a project of the National Research Council of Science and Technology, 'Customized Robotics for Medically Underserved Groups' This project was carried out with the support of the 'Establishment of a Base for Field Clinic Technology Innovation' project, and commercialization is being promoted with the support of the 'Development of a Home Multipurpose Healthcare System Capable of Smart Respiratory Performance Testing and Respiratory Training Therapy' project of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups.