Detection of Breathing Movements of Preterm Neonates by Recording Their Abdominal Movements with a Time-of-Flight Camera.

In order to deliver an aerosolized drug in a breath-triggered manner, the initiation of the patient's inspiration needs to be detected. The best-known systems monitoring breathing patterns are based on flow sensors. However, due to their large dead space volume, flow sensors are not advisable for monitoring the breathing of (preterm) neonates.

Breath-Triggered Drug Release System for Preterm Neonates.

A major disadvantage of inhalation therapy with continuous drug delivery is the loss of medication during expiration. Developing a breath-triggered drug release system can highly decrease this loss. However, there is currently no breath-triggered drug release directly inside the patient interface (nasal prong) for preterm neonates available due to their high breathing frequency, short inspiration time and low tidal volume.

Novel Test Bench for Inhaler Characterization Including Real-Time Determination of Output, Output Rate, and Liquid Water Content of Delivered Aerosols.

Developing new (triggered) or improving existing inhaler systems for (preterm) neonates and adults requires test benches for the determination of aerosol output and aerosol output rate. Furthermore, real-time measurement of aerosol output and output rate is advantageous with respect to both development costs and development time, especially when using liquid or humidified dry aerosols. The current standard test procedures following ISO 27427, however, are time-consuming.