Respiratory patients can breathe easier with Baxter’s Volara lung therapy

Patients at the Southern Alberta Adult Cystic Fibrosis Clinic are breathing easier thanks in part to Baxter Canada’s Volara oscillation and lung expansion therapy OLE system, says Clare Smith, a physiotherapist who has been treating cystic fibrosis patients for more than 20 years.

The Volara system delivers OLE therapy for airway clearance in a fraction of the time it takes using traditional manual clapping or percussion therapy, offering faster relief and less fatigue both for patients and clinicians.

Smith, who is also the clinic’s research manager for clinical trials, was aware of the introduction of the Volara system in the United States and asked Baxter to send her one to try out, she recalled. That was three years ago before it was launched in Canada.

Today, the clinic, which is associated with the University of Calgary and on the site of the city’s Foothills Medical Centre, has three Volara devices providing relief for its 250 cystic fibrosis patients as well as other patients with breathing challenges.

“I find that Volara ticks a lot of boxes,” said Smith. “It delivers positive pressure that helps patients breathe, and it provides oscillation that mimics the manual techniques that I used in the past and still do, to some extent.

“The Volara system allows for more condensed treatment with the same outcome, so instead of taking 40 to 45 minutes using manual treatment, I can now complete a treatment in 15 to 20 minutes. It’s a great time saver for me, great for more efficient use of hospital resources and great for patients because they’re not as fatigued at the conclusion of their treatment.”

Baxter’s Volara provides alternating cycles of continuous positive expiratory pressure (CPEP) and continuous high frequency oscillation (CHFO), along with aerosol delivery of medication to help maximize treatment efficiency. The positive pressure expands and keeps the airways open, while the oscillation, a pneumatic form of chest therapy, loosens and mobilizes secretions.

The device features a digital touchscreen and can be wheeled from patient to patient within the clinic or to different departments in the hospital as required. The touchscreen controls allow the clinician to customize the treatment for every patient.

“I can change the pressure, the time and the frequency of the pressure as well as the oscillation,” said Smith. “I can also program presets, which is great for patients I see frequently and know really well. That, too, is a bit of a time saver because with one push of a button it’s ready to go.”

Smith also likes the integrated nebulizer and often uses it to deliver saline to offset the drying effect of the air pressure.

Baxter officially introduced the Volara system to the Canadian healthcare market one year ago, but it has been used in the U.S. market since 2020, and is helping a wide array respiratory patients. An earlier version of the device from Hillrom/Baxter has been available since 2014 and has produced data indicating that the therapy can result in a 1.6-day reduction in hospital length of stay, a two-day reduction in ICU length of stay and a 68 percent reduction in time on ventilator.*

Smith has used the therapy primarily in CF in-patients but hopes to expand its use and see more evidence of length of stay reduction in other patient populations with breathing issues, including bronchiectasis and pneumonia.

“For example, we’re trying to roll it out for our spinal cord patients because these patients frequently experience respiratory stress when their spinal cord injury is high enough that it impacts their diaphragm.”

If the Volara system can ease their breathing issues, they can start their rehab earlier than would otherwise be the case and go home sooner, she explained.

Burn unit patients may also benefit from Volara treatments, said Smith, if skin grafts on the chest or back prevent the use of manual techniques and there is no excessive loss of tissue integrity from airway burns.

Home use of the Volara by patients with frequent flare-ups could also lighten the burden on hospitals. Baxter continues to work with health advocates to explore making Volara accessible beyond the walls of the hospital to help treat vulnerable respiratory patients.

The need for a more effective method of delivering oscillation and lung expansion therapy will only increase in the decades to come, noted Scott Kennedy, Baxter’s Canadian marketing manager for connected care and respiratory health.

“We recognize that over the past several years there has been an increase in air quality issues. We also have an aging population with Canadians over the age of 65 accounting for 18 percent of the population, and increasing to 32 percent over the next 30 years.

As we see an increase in asthma and chronic diseases like COPD,” said Kennedy, “we’re confident that Volara can help patients breathe easier and manage healthcare costs by reducing treatment time, length of stay and hospital re-admissions.”

*Source: Reference from Volara brochure – Huynh TT, Liesching TN, Cereda M, Lei Y, Frazer MJ, Nahouraii MR, et al. Efficacy of Oscillation and Lung Expansion in Reducing Postoperative Pulmonary Complication, JACS (2019)

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