Can we make better use of routine physiological signals? Using maths to improve the sensitivity of detecting drug or disease-induced changes

Manasi Nandi¹, Miquel Serna Pascual¹ Maria Volovaya¹, Yujia Wu¹, Rebecca D’Cruz², Philip Aston³, Carolyn Lam^1,4, Aileen Milne⁴, Mary McElroy⁴

¹School and Cancer and Pharmaceutical Sciences, King’s College London, Franklin Wilkins Building, 150 Stamford Street, London, U.K.

²Department of Mathematics, Centre for Mathematical and Computational Biology, University of Surrey, Guildford
Surrey U.K.

³Lane Fox Respiratory Unit, Guys and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, London, U.K

⁴Discovery Pharmacology and Toxicology, Charles River, Edinburgh, U.K

Summary

Symmetric Projection Attractor Reconstruction (SPAR) is a newly developed mathematical technique. It quantifies the shape and variability changes of cyclic waveforms by using all the available digital data, most of which is typically discarded during conventional analysis. We demonstrate the additive value of this technique in more sensitively quantifying lung function changes in a preclinical lung fibrosis model and in patients with COPD.

Key Message

SPAR quantifies morphology changes in respiratory waveforms, by using all the available digital data collected by physiological monitors. SPAR represents a disruptive technology which challenges how we quantify and monitor changes in lung function and lung health. Our data indicate SPAR can better characterise drug effects preclinically and provide earlier alerts for ensuing deterioration, in COPD patients.