Wireless tech augments treatment for cystic fibrosis patients

New technology from Hill-Rom Holdings is designed to more easily clear airways for patients with cystic fibrosis, and let clinicians know at a distance how patients are responding to treatment.

The product, called the VisiVest System, uses high-frequency chest-wall oscillation, which helps to clear mucus from lung airways. It comes with wireless connectivity from Qualcomm that sends data to a portal from Razorfish that displays data trends to clinicians via a dashboard.

The data also is available to patients so they can assist in treatment decisions with the goal of improved therapy adherence, according to Hill-Rom.Full introduction of VisiVest followed a six-month pilot test with 160 patients from seven clinics specializing in treatment of cystic fibrosis.

“What I like most about the VisiVest System is being able to see my patients’ session data and trends,” Tom Newton, a pulmonary therapist at Miller Children’s Hospital in Long Beach, Calif. “Now, I’m not just telling my patients the more adherent they are to their therapy the higher their pulmonary function numbers are likely to be. We can actually look at their adherence score together and have a more comprehensive conversation about their numbers.”