Over 600,000 people in the UK have significant obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA), a condition that causes breathing to repeatedly stop and start during sleep, which has a big impact on quality of life and increases the risk of developing certain conditions such as hypertension, atrial fibrillation and stroke.
Incidence peaks among children and older adults. Tonsillectomy may cure children with this condition but current diagnostics are poorly suited to children and many undergo surgery without screening for OSA, which is potentially dangerous.
This project aims to develop the world’s first non-invasive, sleep apnoea measurement device, ApniSense, that works to diagnose OSA in home studies, allowing all children (and adults) with OSA to be offered appropriate, affordable, high-quality care.
The award brings together the expertise of Royal Papworth Hospital and technology development and commercialisation company, Iceni Labs, to develop prototype diagnostic devices for OSA that will be tested and clinically validated in a 12 month trial within Papworth’s Respiratory Support and Sleep Centre.
Following the coronavirus outbreak, the team are developing a new application of the technology, Respisense, aimed at continued remote, non-invasive monitoring of respiration rate in patients. Please visit the Iceni website for more details of the medical applications: https://www.icenilabs.com/medical.
Inventors
Dr Ian Smith
Joint Venture Partners
Royal Papworth Hospital NHS Foundation Trust with Iceni Labs
Award Amount
£124,724