Inhalation of therapeutic drug aerosols, a standard procedure for the treatment of lung airway inflammations and obstructions, is now becoming a novel way to combat cancer, diabetes, AIDS, and other diseases. Existing drug aerosol delivery devices, especially for targeting specific areas in the lung, still have poor efficiencies (e.g., 5%-20%), and consequently major portions of the often-aggressive medicine deposit on healthy tissue. Based on a validated computer simulation model, we have recently developed a methodology of """"""""controlled air-particle streams"""""""" where most of the drug aerosols reach the desired lung target area (i.e., 45%-92%). Motivated by these results, this research project proposes the development and validation of a smart inhaler device. The final device envisioned will be characterized by a number of 'intelligent' features, including for example: sensing and adapting to an individual patient's breathing pattern and control of the aerosol release position to ensure targeted deposition with maximum efficiency. The major objectives of this research as a first step, is to focus on the fabrication of the core components and an experimental set up to provide a proof-of-concept. Specifically, we will build an adaptive nozzle with embedded shape memory alloy wires to control the aerosol release position and a replica of the upper portion of a typical human respiratory system. Particle fluxes will be measured through the bronchi down to the 4th generation under controlled and reproducible conditions. A complementary computational effort will be made to perform lung morphology variability studies on the ability of our smart inhaler to delivery drug aerosols to a specific lung target area.
| Kleinstreuer, Clement; Shi, Huawei; Zhang, Zhe (2007) Computational analyses of a pressurized metered dose inhaler and a new drug-aerosol targeting methodology. J Aerosol Med 20:294-309 |
