Interesting mask fit news from Phillips

[Gooserider]

Because of an interest in following what is going on in the wheelchair industry I subscribe to a mailing list run by one of the DME organizations that covers pretty much everything in the DME world including respiratory things... 

They recently sent a post with a press release from Phillips claiming to have released a new product for DME's that is supposed to help them reduce the amount of trial & error in fitting a mask...  The idea is that it does a 3-D scan of the patient's face and plugs that into a database along with other info like age, race, gender, etc. for a search of masks that 'should' fit....

Sounds like a good idea in theory, although I have heard of other efforts to do fitting of other things w/ 3-D scanning that have had mixed results (One was an MIT student effort to make a system for fitting brassieres - no idea if it was real or an effort by computer geeks to see things they might not otherwise get to.... )

One of the claims that makes some sense is that it will give a standard measurement for facial features to help guide sizing choices.  Since it appears that they only do the scan with the patient sitting upright in a chair I don't know how it allows for the changes in face shape that come with lying down, etc... 

It also didn't say whether the product would only suggest Phillips brand masks, or if it would be 'brand agnostic'  It would seem limited if it didn't include every mask in its choices but I can see an effort to promote Phillips masks over others as a choice they could make...

No idea how wide spread it is, or how popular it will be....

Anyone here had it tried on them and can give us a report from the patient side???

ex-Gooserider

[lelandolson]

woahhh ive been thinking about this! sounds like a great theory

[Coffee Man]

Not to be outdone, ResMed announced a similar digital tool on May 18, 2020.

https://investors.resmed.com/investor-re...fault.aspx

[mesenteria]

Going a step further, with 3D, why not print a cushion that the user knows will fit her profile?

[Gooserider]

I don't see the Resmed offering as being as interesting as Phillips.  The website and video seem to say that they will only suggest Resmed brand masks with their tool, so it's limited...  It also seems to be doing little more than having the patient do the same sort of measuring and questions that the DME would do in a live visit...  It seems good in helping reduce the need for in person contact w/ associated COVID risks, but doesn't do anything other than what the DME's and sleep study techs have been doing for years - a few questions, maybe some measurements and then try stuff...  Arguably it is worse since it takes whatever experience the fitter might have with eyeballing face types out of the equation...

OTOH, the Phillips system is (potentially at least, or so it claims) doing far more detailed / sophisticated measuring and use of anatomical data to come up with it's suggestions.  However it still requires the in person visit...

I have seen a lot of 3D printing technologies and am not at all expecting to see 3-D printed masks any time soon.  IMHO while there are things that 3D printing is very good for, the tech has a lot of limitations such that there is more hype than reality behind what they try to make us think it is capable of...  The layered construction of a 3D printed object results in something that is very hard to clean / sterilize so it's less than ideal for most medical use.  Also I have never seen any 3D printing tech that can produce the sort of soft flexible silicone rubber membranes that we see as the sealing surfaces on modern masks (It is a chemically set resin / catalyst compound, not a thermal compound)

ex-Gooserider

[Gideon]

I think what they are doing is taking the measurements that are used for the Mask Fitting guides, running them through the computer 'matching' these simple measurements to the 'mask guide and walla, this mask fits you!