KALAMAZOO, MI (WKZO AM/FM) — A professor at Western Michigan University is developing a device at a fraction of its usual cost that could be used to assess the lungs of COVID-19 patients.
Dr. Alessander Danna-dos-Santos, a WMU professor and certified physical therapist, has been using his own 3D printer and coding expertise to create computerized spirometers for less than $150, when they can usually cost up to $2,000.
Danna-dos-Santos recently received one of five WMU grants for COVID-19 response-related research.
The spirometer measures the forces of air flow to diagnose and monitor conditions that affect breathing such as asthma, pneumonia and viral infections.
The professor hopes to make his cheaper technology widely available so smaller clinics can have better access.
According to WMU, Danna-dos-Santos will be applying for the Institutional Review Board’s approval to initially test the device with Unified Clinics patients, and he hopes by December he’ll have all the data he needs to apply for a patent.
More information can be found here.
