HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Personal Folders Download to citation manager Author home page(s): Vassilios Gulielmos Stephan Schüler Permission Requests Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Wagner, F. M. Articles by Schüler, S. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Wagner, F. M. Articles by Schüler, S.

Ann Thorac Surg 1999;68:2033-2038
© 1999 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons

---

Original Articles: General Thoracic

New telemetric system for daily pulmonary function surveillance of lung transplant recipients

^a Cardiovascular Institute, University of Dresden, Dresden, Germany

Address reprint requests to Dr Wagner, Cardiovascular Institute, University of Dresden, Fetscherstrasse 76, 01307 Dresden, Germany;
e-mail: hkz{at}rcs.urz.tu-dresden.de

Presented at the Thirty-fifth Annual Meeting of The Society of Thoracic Surgeons, San Antonio, TX, Jan 25–27, 1999.

Abstract

Background. Following lung transplantation, prompt diagnosis and therapy of acute pulmonary rejection and infection episodes relies primarily upon changes in pulmonary function and determines long-term outcome. We tested a new system that allows daily monitoring of the patient’s pulmonary status even after discharge from the hospital.

Methods. Seven lung transplant recipients from our center were equipped with a telemetric monitoring device consisting of a portable flowmeter and a special modem unit. The flowmeter measures forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume per second (FEV₁), and mid expiratory flows (MEFs), encodes information like fever, cough, and dyspnea in a binary code form, and stores all values in a 32 kB memory unit. After its use, the patient positions the flowmeter onto the modem unit which automatically connects to a central computer at our center to transfer all saved data. The whole set can be used via any regular phone jack. The patient’s file in the computer can be checked every day.

Results. All patients learned to use the unit during their postoperative stay or during later follow-up, and were able to apply the system at home. In a mean follow-up period of 10.3 ± 2.2 months, 15 episodes of significant deterioration in home pulmonary function tests (PFTs) (>10%) were registered in 6 patients, which were all confirmed by in-hospital body plethysmography. They resulted in diagnoses of 4 episodes of acute rejection, 6 cases of beginning bacterial pneumonia, and 5 cases of, most likely, viral tracheobronchitis. Only 1 patient had to be admitted to the hospital. All patients PFTs returned to previous values after treatment.

Conclusions. Telemetric monitoring of graft function in lung transplant recipients allows reliable early diagnosis and treatment of infection or rejection, which might help to prevent exacerbation of the pathology and reduce quantity of amounting graft dysfunction.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				B. MORLION, C. KNOOP, M. PAIVA, and M. ESTENNE Internet-based Home Monitoring of Pulmonary Function after Lung Transplantation Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med., March 1, 2002; 165(5): 694 - 697. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]