Current Research

The Respiratory Investigation Unit (RIU) at Queen's University is dedicated to studying breathing discomfort and activity limitation in patients with a variety of cardiorespiratory diseases. These studies help develop innovative treatment approaches to alleviate breathing discomfort, increase functional capacity and improve quality of life in these patients.

Our current research research studies are highlighted below.

This study, funded by a Project Grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), aims to better understand the underlying causes of breathlessness in patients in the initial stages of chronic obstrucitve pulmonary disease (COPD). These patients experience intense breathlessness during exercise that appears to be out-of-proportion to the degree of impairment that is measured on standard lung function tests. We are using functional imaging techniques, most notably phase-revolved functional lung MRI (PREFUL-MRI, the imaging technique from where this project derives it's name) during exercise to better understand the structural and functional contributors to breathlessness in these patients. The goal of this project is to better understand the contributors to breathlessness in this population so that we may find better ways of managing this debilitating symptom.

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PREFUL

Combining pulmonary functional imaging and clinical respiratory physiology to uncover the structural determinants of wasted ventilation in dyspneic patients at the initial stages of COPD

DyVe-X

A novel, machine learning based, open source, software package for the assessment of cardiopulmonary exercise testing.

SUPINE

Supine and Upright Pulmonary gas exchange INefficiency during Exercise

Bronchodilator Pilot Study

The effect of acute bronchodilation of small airways function and neuromechanical dissociation during exercise in hyperinflated patients with COPD

Clinical Trials