Saw an article on Bronchiectasis exacerbation

From the American Thoracic Society

smartvest.com/wp-content/up...

[stone-UK]

Hi

I think there are fairly expensive.

Visual view,

bronchiectasis.com.au/paedi...

[Bella395]

My OH has been successfully using a Smart Vest for a few months now. He has had virtually back to back infections for a long time, mostly pseudomonas. He hasn't had a positive culture since starting with the Vest but that could also be due to the fact that he is on long term antibiotics too.

Importantly, it has greatly reduced the time and effort spent coughing up the sputum in the morning. He clears his lungs well within an hour with manageable effort whereas it used to be anything up to four - it was very tiring. He has atrial fibrillation and a leaking mitral valve so the reduction in effort is a real boon. He uses the nebulizer whilst on the Vest and sometimes has normal or hypertonic saline as well.

In the USA insurance companies often fund Smart Vests because they reduce the incidence of infection, thereby reducing the need for costly antibiotics. Bearing in mind the cost of antibiotics (e.g. circa £1,000 for a course of Tobramycin), you don't have to have many of these to cancel out the cost of the Vest.

They are expensive and from what I have read, they don't suit everyone so a trial is advisable. He didn't like the sensation at first and it took almost two weeks to achieve the correct settings but now he is pleased with the Vest and would not want to be without it.

When I first enquired about it I was questioned quite carefully about OH's history and I had the impression that there is a criteria for use of them. The Smart Vest is probably only for people with bronchiectasis who are already using the usual methods of lung clearance e.g. active cycle breathing and huffing, Flutter Valve, PEP devices etc but are having frequent exacerbations.

[Hidden in reply to Bella395]

Thank you for all of that information.

[Hidden in reply to Bella395]

Sounds wonderful Bella. Thank you 😊

[Bella395 in reply to Hidden]

Thank you. There isn't much about Smart Vests on the site so I felt it was worth talking about. There are many more users of the Vest in the USA so they would have more experience and knowledge of its use than we do.

My OH has had a very rough time of it and I just wish I had found the Vest earlier. As I said, not suitable for everyone though. There are other ways of achieving mucous clearance that are cheaper and effective. In this case he was doing all that, usually with intolerable effort and still struggling.

He has asthma as well as bronchiectasis plus other health issues. He says that when he has been on the Vest and cleared his lungs the sensation he gets is similar to using bronchodilators - it seems to open up his airways and he can breathe again. It's wonderful for him not to have to cough/huff for hours on end in a bid to clear the sputum. There seems to be a cumulative effect so it does need good patient compliance.