What’s special about the IPV device that helped my mother breathe better than anything else she had used for her advanced COPD ; and why didn’t the doctor know that it was available for us to use at home?
Ed Salazar, Percussionaire: Okay. The thing that is unique about Percussionaire and Intra-pulmonary Percussive Ventilation is that it’s based on high flow rates, high frequency boluses of air, that result in very, very high flow rates with very, very low pressure.
Alexia : Right.
Ed : Okay. This facilitates the recruitment of lost lung volume- in other words, parts of the lung that aren’t being ventilated adequately- and also facilitates and enhances the removal of secretions, congestion in the lungs.
Alexia : Right. Ed: You know, that is what your mother experienced. Alexia: Right! She absolutely did ! I mean, after she used the device, she didn’t even have to cough or try to produce a cough. In fact, I got to tell you, it’s surprised her sometimes she would just be sitting there reading and all of a sudden- she wouldn’t even be coughing- it would just fly out. And that sounds gross, but I gotta tell you ,it excited us both so much!
Ed: And the thing that is, you know, amazing about it- like, you know, you found out- is it is not only safe and effective, but it’s relatively simple to apply. The concept High-frequency Percussive Ventilation is nothing new. The technology has been around.. You know, I’ve, I’ve been a registered therapist for over 45 years… and the technology has been around, you know, for many, many years. The thing is, it was relegated primarily to critical care situations: trauma centers, burn units, you know, things like this. Then, uh, the developers, you know, Percussionaire, Dr Forest Bird, they realized that, well, if this method of ventilation is so effective, for the worst of lungs, the severe most severe lungs, then why wouldn’t it be just as effective with lower acutity. So they started using it with COPD patients, cystic fibrosis patients, and you know, things of this nature and you know, they had amazing results. The reason that it is not more widely known or accepted in, you know, the greater pulmonary care community is simply because the insurance companies don’t recognize it as a method to be reimbursed.
Alexia:Right.
Ed: So without the backing of the insurance companies to reimburse for it, that’s what prevents the utilization .
Alexia:Who else would this device be really good for? Who have you found have really great results?
Ed:Well, someone with a weak and ineffective cough. You know, COPD patients, Cystic Fibrosis patients, Neuromuscular patients. We’ve had patients with Churg Strauss Syndrome- it’s a rare genetic disorder- people with Muscular Dystrophy, you know, and any muscular condition, which results in an ineffective cough.
Alexia: Right. I can’t wait that this becomes just a normal thing in people’s lives with these conditions so that they can benefit the way that my mother did. And this can be used in conjunction with other respiratory devices, is that correct?
Ed :You were able to use it in conjunction with your mother’s conventional ventilator- I think she was using a Trilogy Ventilator..
Alexia: Yeah! Yeah!
Ed: Right. So, the trilogy ventilator is one of those ventilators that can be used either in pressure mode, or volume mode.
Alexia: Right.
Ed: But by incorporating the IPV high frequency in line with that, it further enhanced the effect of the ventilation; it further improved the ventilation.
Alexia: Can you explain to us a little bit more, I mean, I know that some of the airways are really small and some of them were open more. Can you explain more on how it actually, the device actually uses the flow to open up the airways and remove those secretions.
Ed : Air, just like water and just like electricity will always take the path of least resistance. So if you have two airways, one that is an inch in diameter and one that is an eighth of an inch in diameter, air is preferentially gonna fall through the larger airway.
Alexia: Right.
Ed: The thing that is unique about the High- frequency Percussive Ventilation is that regardless of resistance, all those airways get the same ventilation.
Alexia: Right.
Ed: And that’s what, you know, your mother was able to experience and when she was being ventilated, those areas with a very, very small airways that even because of congestion, reducing the diameter of the airway, those areas were able to be that air in there down to the terminal lung unit, you know, the alveoli.
Alexia: Right
Ed:Then on exhalation, which was happening simultaneously because, you know, she was receiving breaths that, uh, I don’t remember exactly but I think we probably had her about 400 cycles per minute. So, so at that frequency, um, you have inspiration and expiration happening simultaneously and whatever was attached to the walls of the airway, we’re coming out with the exhalation.
Alexia : Right! Effortlessly!
Ed: Right. It didn’t matter whether she coughed or not, whether she was breathed spontaneously or not.
Alexia Clemens: With everything that we’re hearing about the Covid and the respiratory issues, have people reached out to Percussionaire so that they can benefit as well as my mother did ?
Ed: When the Corona Virus and the necessity for ventilation became so public… Percussionaire is now at least eight weeks back ordered.
Alexia: Yes!!!! Because when I started hear that, I’m like ” They need the IPV!!! How do we get it into people’s hands?!?” Aw , man…
Ed:Yes. It’s been, it’s been used very effectively. Percussionaire came out with an emergency rescue version, which works very similarly to the way your mother’s worked. Alexia:Right. Ed: And they came out with this because it would could be produced in large quantities fairly rapidly, and it would still be safe and effective and be used either as a self-standing device or integrated with a conventional ventilator.
Alexia: Gosh, I am so thrilled about that. I can’t tell you. Thank you so much. I thank God that I found you because significantly you improve my mother’s life. I can’t….
Ed: That’s very nice for you to say, and I was very glad to be involved. One parting thing, if anyone wants additional information, they can go to the Percussionaire website and there will be a wealth of information on the different platforms that they provide and research papers that document the efficacy of the therapy.
Alexia:Ed,Thank you so much for joining us today. I appreciate you much!
Ed:You too Alexia . God bless
Alexia:Bye.Bye.