The Food and Drug Administration recently cleared for marketing a first of a kind, non-invasive test system to measure the concentration of nitric oxide in exhaled human breath. The test system, called the NIOX Oxide Test System, should help make it easier for doctors to monitor a patient’s asthma and determine whether or not treatment for asthma is working. It combines the equipment that detects nitric oxide levels and equipment that analyzes exhaled breath with a special computer system.
Use of the device entails the patient placing a mouthpiece, connected by a breathing tube to the computer, over the mouth. The patient inhales nitric oxide-free air to total lung capacity, and then slowly exhales into the mouthpiece. The nitric oxide concentration is displayed immediately on the computer screen.
For more information concerning the device visit the FDA Web site at, www.fda.gov .