Graphene Set To Improve Life For Suffering Asthma Patients

Continuing to improve our everyday health without taking up much space, yet another use of graphene has been discovered and this time it helps those that suffer from asthma. This awful and potentially life-threatening disorder affects over 300 million individuals worldwide through the inflammation and obstruction of airflow in the lungs and passageways. Those that fall victim to the respiratory disorder experience symptoms like coughing, tightness in the chest, shortness of breath, and wheezing but can worsen over time. If not treated properly patients can develop chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which includes both emphysema and chronic bronchitis.

Equipment for spirometry, an office assessment that measures the strength of the lungs through inhale and exhale exercises, in the past has proved to be inconvenient, expensive, and bulky hindering the ability to avoid asthma attacks. Although the inhaler has functioned as an effective piece of equipment to help combat the symptoms of an attack, the device does nothing to prevent an attack before occurring.

The Future Of Asthma Treatment

Fortunately for patients with asthma, researchers at the Rutgers University in New Brunswick recently created a lightweight, effective sensor from the miracle material graphene. Similar to that of a Fitbit or a Life Alert device in terms of wearability, the sensor will alert the user when to take their medication as well as the correct dosage. “Our vision is to develop a device that someone with asthma or another respiratory disease can wear around their neck or on their wrist and blow into it periodically to predict the onset of an asthma attack or other problems,” said Mehdi Javanmard, an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Beyond what can be done to help patients day-to-day, the Rutger team also anticipates this device to be very helpful to physicians while in hospitals and emergency rooms to regulate patients waiting to be seen.

Aware of the substance’s lightweight and compact properties, researchers believe that it will be the perfect material solution for asthma patients as well as those diagnosed with all respiratory diseases. Not only will these incredible graphene-based nanoeletric sensors help to improve patients’ ability to manage the disorder, but they will even detect nitrite. Nitrite is found when inflammation occurs in the inner lining of the respiratory passage, making it easy to trace with the device as a major inflammatory marker. By simply blowing into or wearing the device, measurements of the patient’s exhaled condensate will be recorded as biomarkers to better understand the disease at a molecular degree, verify that inflammation is occurring and will administer the correct dosage of medication.

A Great Time For Patients

According to researchers at the Rutgers University, there is an urgent need for such a “minimally invasive method” that provides disease management and prevention of hospitalization and even death. Although the team predicts around five years until the commercialization of the product, within that time they plan to adjust the amount of biomarkers that can be detected which will vary based on the severity of each individual’s diagnosis.