ndd Medical Technologies' Mobile Pulmonary Function Testing Helps Combat Pulmonary Fibrosis

ANDOVER, Mass., March 5, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- ndd Medical Technologies, a leader in innovative mobile pulmonary function testing (PFT) that employs precise ultrasound technology, announced that its EasyOne Pro® was used at a free clinic event held by the San Antonio Pulmonary Fibrosis Support Group. The clinic targeted patients with interstitial lung disease (ILD) or pulmonary fibrosis (PF), as well as those suspected of having ILD or PF.

With a footprint of a mere 12 square inches, EasyOne Pro provides accurate respiratory test results outside of the PFT lab — in clinics, doctors' offices and at the patient bedside.  

"The EasyOne Pro's portability and ability to accurately perform mobile PFTs in under 30 minutes make it the perfect device for this type of clinic. It allows us to use the patients' time more efficiently, better understand their illness, and improve assessment of their condition," said Anoop Nambiar, MD, Medical Director of the San Antonio Pulmonary Fibrosis Support Group and Director of the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UTHSCSA) Center for Interstitial Lung Disease.  "It's easy to operate and allows us to provide prompt and accurate assessment of patients' lung function."

PF is a disease where scar tissue forms around the lungs' air sacs, making it harder for oxygen to pass into the bloodstream. Once scarring occurs, the damage and loss of lung function are irreversible.  Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, or IPF, is a type of PF of unknown cause that inevitably worsens over time and is associated with a worse prognosis than many common cancers such as prostate, breast, and colon cancer. Only 50% of patients with IPF are alive after 3 to 5 years from the time of diagnosis.  Recent studies estimate that IPF may affect 1 out of every 200 adults over the age of 65 in the United States.

"For many in our community, these clinics are the only medical care they receive, so it is vital that we continue such services and raise awareness about the invisible disease that is PF," said Dorothy "Dot" Delarosa, Founder and Director of the San Antonio Pulmonary Fibrosis Association and a PF patient. "I want to thank everyone who made this clinic possible— from the UTHSCSA respiratory therapy students who volunteered their time to ndd Medical Technologies for donating equipment."

There is no cure for PF, which takes 40,000 lives a year – the same number lost to breast cancer. Other than lung transplantation, which is an option for a small number of carefully selected PF patients, there are no medical treatments that stop or reverse the disease.  Recently, two new anti-fibrotic therapies, pirfenidone and nintedanib, were shown to slow disease progression in IPF and were FDA-approved in October 2014.

About ndd Medical Technologies, Inc.

With 40 percent of the U.S. spirometry market share, ndd Medical Technologies offers innovative, easy-to-use pulmonary function testing instruments that help clinicians diagnose lung disease with greater precision for optimal treatment.  Its EasyOne^® and EasyOne Pro^® portable instruments take up just 12-square-inches of space and take lung function testing wherever it is needed, in the pulmonary function laboratory, at the bedside or in the field. ndd's devices measure DLCO, FRC, LCI and FVC with their patented Ultrasonic TrueFlow™ technology, which requires no calibration and eliminates problems associated with traditional methods of flow measurement, making testing fast, reliable and error-free.  To learn more, visit www.nddmed.com.

SOURCE ndd Medical Technologies, Inc.

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