Swallowing & Respiration : Modelling & e-Health at Home – e-SwallHome

The project Swallowing & Breathing: Modelling and e-Health at Home (e-SwallHome) aims to explain the normal behavior of two coupled functions in human, swallowing and breathing, to better understand the etiology of the mechanisms underlying pathological behaviors of dysphagia, dyspnea and dysphonia, related to a brain stroke. The project will focus on developing, from the understanding of these mechanisms, a set of protocols for diagnosis, monitoring at home, educating and rehabilitating patients at risk of death from asphyxia or fall without the possibility of triggering alarm signals (e.g., in case of brain stroke or chronic disease - such as trisomy 21 - with impaired swallowing / breathing and, consequently, speech). To achieve its objectives, the project will develop research in three areas:

1) Modeling: building a model that integrates the central control and the peripheral effectors of swallowing and breathing, taking into account the associated feedback to centers from existing models.

2) Metrology and signal processing: defining parameters and variables of the integrated model, which will be the subject of metrology, if possible at home (concerning the variables) and estimating, if possible in a personalized way and if necessary in hospitals their individual value (concerning the parameters).

3) Monitoring and Education: using these measures in real time, which allows the visualization of real pathological behavior, in reference to a prototypical normal behavior, for example in the context of a procedure for preventing falls in the flat or on the road, or suffocation with or without a fall, and for establishing a protocol for biofeedback and / or serious games for education or rehabilitation of the patient.

The expected results are:
• an improvement of the quality of life of people suffering from diseases related to the functions of swallowing and breathing, thanks to tele-home support, combining technological innovation in e-health practices and innovations in swallowing / breathing rehabilitation.
• an economy in the support by the national health insurance of rehabilitation procedures and social rehabilitation, including a rapid recovery of normal speech.
• a better understanding of physiological control by the centres of the functions involved in the project, and an explanation of the etio-pathogenesis of the related disorders.
• the design and implementation of home sensors, and exploitation by the clinician of the information collected at home, in order to improve the knowledge about the patient and his/her illness.