Smart Vest

The idea of an artificial respirator has nearly a 350 year history, including the signature device of the 20^th century’s polio era, Philip Drinker and Louis Shaw’s “iron lung” of 1927.  Polio is gone (almost extinct), but patients suffering from cystic fibrosis, bronchiectasis, and COPD sometimes require artificial respirators and a new device, the “smart vest” (from Electromed, Inc., New Prague, MN) relies on high frequency chest wall oscillation to accomplish ventilation.  Its squeeze and release movements cycle at 5-20 times per second, which don’t simulate breathing, but rather repeated “mini-coughs” that loosen mucus in the lungs’ airways. MORE

Image Credit:  Electromed.com