Patent ID: 7658717

Claim:
A pulmonary volume evaluation device comprising: an item worn over the user's body for following body movements caused by the user's lung operation; said item comprising: a front panel corresponding to the user's front; a rear panel corresponding to the user's back; an upper aperture sized and shaped to allow the user's head to be outside the item when worn; a lower aperture sized and shaped to allow the user's legs to be outside the item when worn; said front panel extending from said upper aperture to said lower aperture and being sized and shaped to substantially entirely cover the anterior chest wall and at least the upper abdomen; a sensor for sensing fluctuations in a user's lung operation; and feedback means, driven by said sensor, for determining successive values representative of the user's lung fluctuations and for translating said values into appropriate lung-evaluating information; wherein said item has at least one chamber located in both said front and rear panels formed between an inner wall and an outer wall, said at least one chamber having a substantially enclosed volume of gas disposed therein, said at least one chamber being sized and shaped so as to substantially entirely cover the chest wall and at least the upper abdomen of the user's body, said inner wall being spaced from said outer wall throughout the entire lung region and being substantially flexible to remain in contact with the entire lung region in order to follow, in use, the displacement of the entire lung region; and said outer wall is substantially rigid in order to remain in position during the displacement of the lung region; whereby said inner wall and said outer wall combine to compress said volume of gas as said flexible inner wall is pushed towards said rigid outer wall during inspiration as the lungs expand and to decompress said volume of gas as said flexible inner wall relaxes during expiration as the lungs contract; and said sensor senses changes in pressure within said chamber throughout inspiration and expiration.