The Feasibility of Electrical Impedance Tomography to Guide Non-invasive Respiratory Interventions in Chronic Respiratory Disease

This study aims to use Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT) to optimise breathing machines for people with problems with their breathing. This might improve their ability to use their breathing machine. By providing real-time pictures of the lungs, EIT can help clinicians tailor breathing machine settings to meet each persons needs. Long term respiratory failure is a serious condition that causes extreme difficulty breathing. There are a lot of people in the UK with respiratory failure. It costs the NHS a lot of money to support these people. People with long term respiratory failure often spend a lot of time in hospital. Non-invasive ventilation (NIV) is a key treatment for these patients. NIV is a breathing machine that supports breathing and helps get rid of waste gases (including carbon dioxide) from the lungs. Cough assist helps people to cough and clear secretion. Lots of patients find using breathing machine hard. It can be difficult to set the machines up to suit each persons needs. Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT) is a promising technology that provides real-time pictures of the lungs without radiation exposure. A chest belt sends painless, harmless low-level electrical currents through the lungs. This creates an instant picture of the lungs. EIT has shown to be useful in critical care settings to optimise breathing machine settings. EIT in respiratory failure has not been tested. Project Goal: Assess if Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT) can make breathing machine settings better for people with respiratory failure. Objectives: Work package 1 * Use EIT to look at and adjust settings on breathing machines (NIV). * Check if adjustments using EIT help patients use their breathing machines more often. * Ask people if they feel any better with the machine on the new settings * Ask people about changes in their symptoms after the changes on the machines have been made Work package 2 * Use EIT to observe lung air movement during mechanical insuffl