Clinical Trials: Pulmonary Function
Decreasing lung function correlates closely with increased frequency and severity of respiratory illness, hospitalization, medical care costs and diminished quality of life. Effective therapy with should help preserve lung function, slow the progression of lung disease and avoid or reduce the need for more intensive therapy such as intravenous antibiotics. Quality of life should improve with reduced breathlessness, better exercise tolerance and greater ability to carry out activities of daily living.
A small reduction in rate of pulmonary function decline has a big effect on health and longer-term survival. The impact of therapy is significant if the rate of decline of one important pulmonary function indicator – FEV1 – is reduced as little as 1% to 2% annually.
Long-term and short-term studies show that HFCC helps sustain or improve pulmonary function.
Peer-reviewed clinical research studies show that HFCC machines provide therapy that is superior or equivalent to professionally administered chest physiotherapy (CPT).
In a long-term study comparing chest physiotherapy (CPT) to high frequency chest compression (HFCC) in cystic fibrosis (CF) patients, 94% showed positive improvements for percent predicted forced vital capacity (FVC) and forced expiratory volume in one minute (FEV1) after two years of HFCC therapy. Most showed clinical improvement. The long - term FVC and FEV1 gains shown in this study are unprecedented.
In a crossover study comparing the volume of mucus cleared using HFCC vs. CPT, HFCC therapy was shown to be more effective than standard CPT for all outcomes measured including effects on pulmonary function.
In a short-term evaluation of the effect of HFCC on pulmonary function compared with chest physiotherapy (CPT) or alternative therapies in 54 CF patients, FEV1 improved significantly after an average of 3 months of HFCC treatment.
See also…
Research and Evidence
Clinical Trials
Research Studies
Annotated Bibliography
Articles
