Has anyone bought or got a NIOX VERO® for assessment and management of airway inflammation for asthma?

[becky3344]

Hi. My asthma is still not great. I'm taking a nebuliser treatment at home now once a day along with steroids still.

I just found this link, It's USA based but it has a UK link to it. The website looks very thorough, with case studies, publications, resources and so much info about what they are about. But i don't know if what they are selling would be very beneficial for me to find out more about what's happening inside my chest and airways without costing an arm and leg.

It does say "Measuring FeNO

Traditional methods of asthma assessment only give part of the picture, as they are only indirectly associated with airway inflammation.

In addition, conventional evaluation methods such as peak flow measurement and spirometry are effort dependent, and results may be unreliable. Likewise, symptom assessments are subjective and lack sensitivity. The American Thoracic Society (ATS) strongly recommends the use of FeNO measurement to aid in the assessment, management, and long-term monitoring of asthma. In their 2011 clinical practice guideline, the ATS emphasizes the importance of using FeNO to Ensure appropriate treatment with anti-inflammatory medications, especially corticosteroids

.

Patients with asthma caused by allergic airway inflammation have high levels of FeNO that decrease with corticosteroid treatment

. Knowing whether airway inflammation is present can help avoid an empiric trial of steroids. "

Has anyone got this NIOX VERO machine, and if so what do you think of it, and has it helped you and how?

And would you recommend it for an asthma sufferer to get one? Does it pick up things more than using a 'peak flow meter' ( which measures how fast air comes out of your lungs when you exhale forcefully after inhaling fully) and 'Pulse Oximeter' ( which is a medical device that indirectly monitors the oxygen saturation of a person's blood (as opposed to measuring oxygen saturation directly through a blood sample.)

it says "NIOX VERO® machine is a point-of-care device for assessing airway inflammation in patients with respiratory problems such as asthma. NIOX VERO is a further development of NIOX MINO®, the most widely used device for measuring airway inflammation in clinical practice and clinical studies all over the world. "

I watched the brief video intro to the link which explains what the FeNO-Test measures and picks up, which then makes it easier for a GP to be able to diagnose and give you the right meds and treatment.

Here is the link telling you all about it, and the short info video about the NIOX MINO machine.

niox.com/en/feno-asthma/

Becky

[Matman]

Hi

FeNO is an exhaled nitric oxide test that seeks to indicate how much inflammation is present in your lungs and to help differentiate between allergic and non allergic asthma.

Consultants like to try and get an Asthmatics FeNO Score down below 45. (A reasonable FeNO Score for a non Asthmatic is below 20).

FeNO is generally tested if and when you're referred to a specialist asthma clinic. My understanding is that a FeNO Score is usually used in conjunction with other Tests , for example, an Eosinophil Blood Test and a Forced Sputum Test to also check your Eosinophil Count. Each Test is used to help validate the the other Tests. One Test alone may be misleading which is why different tests are typically cross compared.

If you can't get a GP Referral to an Asthma Clinic or - alternatively - can't afford to see a private Respiratory / Asthma Consultant (plus pay for the Tests) then you might want to consider a Home test solution but - on its own - without additional Tests (plus an expert to interprit the results) - my guess is that you won't derive much benefit.

That said, it may be beneficially to know your FeNO Score on a number of consecutive days to establish some kind of 'average' as that 'average' figure may be more useful than a one-off Test.

Whatever your FeNO, if your Asthma is troublesome, it's only experimentation with a range of Meds plus Trigger Identification (if you're an allergic Asthmatic), Life Style Changes (including weight management, physical activity, good rest / sleep) etc that might ultimately improve your situation.

Notwithstanding my comments above, the link you've shared is a good one to the extent that it provides some very clear info on Asthma, FeNO and Inflammation. The Asthma UK Site also has a very clear explanation of FeNO Testing.

[becky3344 in reply to Matman]

HI Matman.

Thank you very much for your reply. Yes i got the feeling that just buying the machine that i would need the expert analyse people which goes with it, to explore the results and like you said maybe need to cross it with other tests.

I shall look at Asthma UK site and look at there explanation of FeNO Testing.

May i ask you how you know alot about it?

Have you used it yourself, or thought about using it?

Becky

[Matman in reply to becky3344]

I've had a couple of FeNO Tests and also researched FeNO - plus Eosinophilic Asthma - which I appear to suffer from.

[becky3344 in reply to Matman]

Thanks for sharing.

[Matman]

Just thought I'd let you know that I asked the company in question whether (in the UK) they sold direct to Patients or only to Medical Professionals. I was told only to Medical Professions.

[becky3344 in reply to Matman]

Okay thank you Matman, i appreciate your reply. That's good to know.

[TuckBox2]

Hi Becky,

I have been having FeNo tests when I visit the asthma clinic before having my Mepolizumab (Nucala) injections, I started having them about 2 years ago my results have been from 84 the 1st test, down to 12, at my last test it was 40