Emphysema Devices Search for Breathing Room

Article preview reprinted Medtech Insight - March, 2009 

Find out how interventional pulmonology is a burgeoning field for medical device manufacturers. It is ripe with opportunities to develop minimally invasive solutions for patients with chronic progressive lung disease.

Emphysema Devices Search for Breathing Room

Interventional pulmonology is a burgeoning field for medical device manufacturers. It is ripe with opportunities to develop minimally invasive solutions for chronic progressive lung disease patients, who have serious unmet clinical needs. One such disease is emphysema, a type of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) that afflicts approximately 1.8% of the world's population and an estimated 4.1 million people in the US alone.

In its severest form, emphysema is characterized by irreversible damage to the walls separating the alveoli, the tiny air sacs that form the most distal portion of the lungs. As the disease progresses, the alveoli merge into even larger air sacs, which reduces the elasticity of the lung and causes areas to become hyperinflated. In turn, the airways normally held open by the elasticity of the lungs become floppy and collapse on exhalation. As emphysema progresses, the hyperinflated areas of the lungs fill more and more of the chest cavity, trapping air and leaving less volume available for viable lung tissue. Over time, patients lose the ability to expel air and efficiently absorb oxygen, further altering respiratory mechanics and increasing the work of breathing.

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Companies mentioned in this article:

Aeris Therapeutics Inc.

Broncus Technologies Inc.

Emphasys Medical Inc.

Olympus Corp.

PneumRx Inc.

Royal Brompton Hospital

Spiration Inc.

Uptake Medical Corp.

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