Function meter for young children

Lung function meter for young children

Whistler long function meter

The Whistler lung function meter is a research instrument for measuring lung function in infants. UMC Utrecht, in collaboration with the business sector, has developed a small device that, within a few breaths in infants and young children, determines the likelihood of lung disease: the Whistler.

WeLLDesign applied its inventiveness, innovative talent and expertise, Teaching hospital in collaboration with the hospital and suppliers. Our team took up the challenge and organised a Pressure Cooker session. In a short period of time we came to a commercial, user-friendly and technically viable concept for the lung function meter.

The Whistler can be placed in a child-friendly and natural way.

Industrial design

Whistler is small, easy to use and wireless. The survey results contributed to excellent user-friendliness. Handling of Whistler may be compared to “bottle feeding a baby”.

WeLLDesign carried out the design, the engineering of casing and occlusion mechanism, and during the follow-up stage, took care of product realisation and commercial and technical feasibility. After a pilot phase with prototypes, Whistler was developed for serial production.

Determining the probability of lung disease

CCM Beheer obtained the exploitation rights and ensured the device came onto the market. The Whistler consortium, consisting of the University Medical Centre Utrecht, WellDesign and Centre for Concepts in Mechatronics (CCM) has concluded an agreement with CCM Beheer. CCM Beheer obtained the operating rights of the Whistler in order to market the Whistler. The device came onto the market in the summer of 2012, with a CE mark.

Target audiences of the Whistler

The standard lung function measurement is not applicable for measuring the lung function of babies, young children, and adults who are no longer able to forcefully inhale and exhale. However, it is desirable to measure lung function in this group at the earliest possible stage. Babies and children, in particular, regularly suffer from airway complaints in their early years. Whistler is a new measuring instrument that can now be used to measure the lung function of this group. The Whistler offers measurement methods that can be used during quiet breathing, as well as the classic spirometry measurement method. The Whistler therefore has a measurement range for individuals from 0 to 100 years old, which is very useful for use in general practice. It is a handheld instrument that is both user-friendly and child-friendly. Calibration of the instrument takes place once at the factory, so it is not necessary for the user to calibrate it themselves.

Research

Prof. Dr. C.K. van der Ent, a paediatrician at the Wilhelmina Children's Hospital (part of UMC Utrecht), is leading a large-scale study into respiratory complaints in children in collaboration with GPs from the Julius Health Centres in Leidsche Rijn. With the help of the data collected in this study, it will be possible in the future to predict which children are at higher risk of developing asthma based on a lung function measurement. This will allow for better treatment at an early stage. Pontes Medical (formerly MTIC), the medical-technical innovation team at UMC Utrecht, has put paediatrician Van der Ent and UMC Utrecht’s Medical Technology & Clinical Physics cluster in touch with WeLLDesign and CCM. Both SMEs have contributed their expertise to the development of the Whistler. Around 10% of the population have asthma, and the number of patients with asthma and other lung and respiratory conditions is rising every year.