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Computer Game Helps COPD Patients Breathe Better
A computer game that uses a patient's breath to play may help those with COPD gain better control over their breathing and breathe more efficiently, according to new research.
"COPD is a double-edged sword: the incapacitating lung condition can cause such serious shortness of breath that everyday physical activity, such as walking a flight of stairs, becomes unduly burdensome — and yet one of the few effective symptomatic treatments for COPD is the very thing that its victims dread most: exercise," said leading researcher Eileen Collins, Ph.D., of the Edward Hines Jr. VA Hospital in Hines, Ill., and UIC. "This computerized program is still in the research stages, but shows promise for future use in pulmonary rehabilitation programs."
Collins and colleagues designed a randomized, controlled trial to test whether the computer program could decrease the extent of air trapping during exercise and thus improve the results of rehabilitation in COPD patients. A total of 64 patients were randomized to three groups — exercise alone, exercise plus ventilation feedback (VF) or VF alone. VF patients had their breathing monitored by a computer program, which provided real-time biofeedback and set individualized goals presented graphically on a screen in front of them. Patients could see their current speed and depth of breathing in relation to the set goal, encouraging them to inhale more slowly and exhale more completely in order to achieve the goal.
At baseline, the groups all performed similarly in exercise tolerance tests. Comparing all the groups, those that underwent a regimen of exercise and ventilation feedback showed significant improvements in exercise duration, and those who underwent exercise alone fared much better than those who only received ventilation feedback. Because of the multiple comparisons between groups, the exercise-plus-ventilation feedback group did not attain statistically significant improvements over the exercise-only group, but the results indicated a strong trend in that direction. Exercise-induced hyperinflation was also reduced in patients randomized to exercise-plus-ventilation feedback over either program by itself. Duration of exercise tolerance in the exercise-plus-ventilation feedback group also showed a significant trend toward improvement.
If patients can be taught to translate these breathing techniques from the computer game to activities of daily living, they could potentially greatly improve their quality of life, said the researchers. "We are conducting a follow-up clinical trial to compare computerized breathing feedback with other unique methods of pulmonary rehabilitation," Collins said.
The results of the study appeared in the April 15 issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, published by the American Thoracic Society.
