最近研究指出，氣喘病情不能有效控制，其中重要因素之ㄧ為病人不能與醫生實際配合控制。此乃因為傳統氣喘的監控方式是利用紙本紀錄好尖峰吐氣流量資料，並將資料交給醫生，再由醫生來做診斷。由於氣喘是屬於慢性疾病，因此需要長期的監控才能控制好病情。可是病人常在病情好轉之後便沒有照醫生指示去控制氣喘，而導致治療效果受到影響甚至死亡。因此本研究的目的是要建立一套數位式氣喘尖峰氣流量監測系統，藉由個人數位助理 (PDA) 及網路傳輸，能讓氣喘病人與醫生透過這樣的監測方式來改善其氣喘症狀。 此系統是以Windows CE 為作業系統之PDA為主體，使用由ADInstruments公司(Sydney,Australia)所設計的呼吸流量器將氣喘病人吐氣之尖峰值轉為類比電壓，而此類比訊號透過單晶片處理器轉換成數位訊號，再藉由串列埠傳輸至PDA。氣喘病人可將其尖峰吐氣資料存放在設計好的PDA資料庫內，同時也可利用PDA接上電腦做同步資料傳輸或透過無線網路方式，將PDA內部的資料與遠端醫生之電腦同步更新。醫生也可藉由本研究所開發之軟體介面，發送簡訊給病患。在此模式下，病人與醫生不僅不會受到時間與距離的限制，而且可以達到氣喘病人病情之監測與改善的目的。 Recent study indicates that one of the important reasons that asthmatic condition could not be effectively controlled is that patients could not comply with the prescription of physician. One possible reason for this is that the conventional approach for physician to monitor the symptoms of asthmatic patients is based on the daily peak expiratory flow records of the patient. Because of the chronic essence of asthma, a long-term patient monitoring would be the necessary step to control the asthmatic condition. However, the asthmatic patients often stop following the prescription of physician once their symptoms of asthma were largely improved. This often leads to deterioration of treatment efficacy or even the patient’s death. The main purpose of this study is to design an asthmatic peak expiratory flow monitor that is based on a personal digital assistant (PDA) and internet communication to. Such a system would improve not only the communication between the asthmatic patients and physician but also the symptom of asthmatic patients. The device developed in this study is based on a Windows CE-based PDA. The peak expiratory flow (PEF) of asthmatic patient are converted into analog signals via a pneumotachometer (ADInstruments Inc., Sydney, Australia). These analog signals are digitized by a microcontroller and transfered to PDA by a serial interface (RS-232). The PEF data of asthmatic patients can be stored in the database of PDA or synchronized with the computer in the office of physician to update the data through the internet or wireless local area network (LAN). The physician can also use a software program developed from this study to send short message to patients. Therefore, communication between the patients and physician not only will not be limited by time and distance, but also can achieve the goal of monitoring and improvement of patients’ symptoms.
