Today, Hoffman Laboratories will announce the debut of BreatheX, the first wearable CPAP machine for sleep apnea. It provides continuous positive airway pressure without forcing patients to “plug in” to a bulky bedside device every night.
BreatheX users will enjoy greater freedom of movement wherever they sleep: in their beds, on the couch, or in many other sleep environments — such as while traveling, camping, boating, or staying with friends or in hotels. Because the BreatheX — which can be used with most interfaces on the market — looks more like a pillow than a medical device, users won’t experience the same mental barriers to acceptance and compliance that they often do with traditional CPAP devices.
There were substantial engineering challenges to developing a wearable CPAP device. Traditional CPAP motors are too inefficient to operate off a small battery pack, and they produce too much noise, heat, and vibration to be used close to a patient. To overcome these obstacles, the BreatheX relies on a highly efficient, patent pending, motor/blower design. This design lends itself to using a lighter, more comfortable headgear and nasal interface system (510K clearance pending), which will also be displayed at Medtrade.
This seems like a big engineering breakthrough for a company that’s only been around two years. Who knows what Hoffman Labs will come up with, next?
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