Intrapulmonary percussive ventilation (IPV) is an
airway clearance technique recently introduced as an
alternative to conventional chest physiotherapy in chronic
obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD). A new portable device
delivering IPV, called Impulsator® (Percussionaire
Corporation, Sandpoint, Idaho, USA), has been introduced for
IPV home therapy with the aim to foster COPD patients’
autonomy. Nevertheless, the lack of detailed information about
the exact functioning of the device restricts the possibility of
treatment optimization, possibly reducing the clinical usefulness
of the therapy. This work aims to obtain quantitative
information about the physical variables related to the use of the
Impulsator® (e.g. pulsatile flow and pressure magnitudes),
allowing treatment personalization.
