Personalised Pulmonary Rehabilitation: Harnessing the power of Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing (CPET)

Summary

Our research will focus on using gold-standard Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing (CPET) to deliver truly personalised Pulmonary Rehabilitation (PR) for ageing patients with chronic respiratory disease

What are we doing?

We are hoping to develop the diagnostic potential of cardiorespiratory exercise testing for patients with Interstitial Lung Diseases (ILD) and to empower them to get the most benefit from pulmonary rehabilitation.

We aim to collaborate with The Exeter Patients in Collaboration for Pulmonary Fibrosis Research (EPIC-PF) group which has been formed from a Patient and Public Involvement (PPI) initiative set up by researchers from the University of Exeter, clinicians from the Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, pulmonary fibrosis patients and their families. By working with EPIC-PF we strive to enhance research in a collaborative, mutually supportive and evolving manner to optimise therapies, rehabilitation and treatments.

How are we doing it?

We’ll use a range of trials which integrate Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing (CPET) for people with Interstitial Lung Disease.

We’ll be:

• Identifying unique responses to exercise (O2 use, Heart rate, breathlessness, work rate, VO2peak)
• Modifying pulmonary rehabilitation based on individual patient response
• Developing plans for online pulmonary rehabilitation
• Reviewing and auditing pulmonary rehabilitation in the UK with a focus on Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) and Interstitial Lung Disease (ILD)

What happens next?

We hope that our research wiill help to inform clinical practice and enhance pulmonary rehabilitation guidelines to improve patient care.