The BiWaze® Clear Airway Clearance System

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Simple & effective airway clearance option for at-home respiratory patients

ABM Respiratory Care, a U.S. medical device manufacturer, is pleased to announce the launch of a novel airway clearance system, BiWaze® Clear. This innovative system can help patients with acute and chronic respiratory conditions, open and clear their lungs in the hospital, post-acute and home care environments. The BiWaze® Clear System is designed to provide airway clearance through oscillating lung expansion (OLE) therapy. It is intended to both prevent and treat atelectasis and to remove deep-seated secretions in the lungs of both adult and pediatric patients.

What sets the BiWaze Clear system apart from other OLE therapy systems is its unique dual-blower system that separates the inhale and exhale pathways to the patient. The system uses a disposable Dual Lumen Breathing Circuit™ that is completely closed, eliminating the need for exhale ports or leaks. Additionally, the BiWaze Clear system comes with a closed, vibrating mesh nebulizer, Aerogen® Solo, for aerosol therapy to calm airway inflammation and thin mucus.

Internal vs. external airway clearance therapy

To ensure effective airway clearance therapy, it's crucial to choose a treatment that the patient can tolerate and maintain at home. High-Frequency Chest Wall Oscillation (HFCWO) therapy is considered the standard of care for airway clearance. This external therapy was expanded to a mobile solution (utilizing a wearable, battery-operated garment) ten years ago which has helped improve patient compliance in the home. For patients who struggle with HFCWO due to the tightly fitted garment or if they cannot tolerate the weight of a mobile garment, the BiWaze Clear system may be a better option.

BiWaze Clear’s OLE therapy is a breathing treatment which provides an internal therapy delivered via a patient interface (mouthpiece, face mask, or tracheostomy tube) instead of an external therapy like HFCWO. OLE therapy provides lung expansion using a set expiratory pressure to increase forced residual capacity, which can increase ventilation and open closed or blocked airways.^₁ OLE therapy also provides high-frequency oscillation where the system will vary the airflow to a set peak pressure to break up and thin mucus deep in the lungs. Medicated aerosol can be delivered to help calm inflamed airways and thin the mucus with the Aerogen® Solo nebulizer throughout the therapy.

BiWaze Clear’s therapy differs from IPV and IPPB because BiWaze Clear delivers positive expiratory pressure and high frequency oscillation therapy with an electronically controlled dual blower system. There is no venturi, no open exhalation port, and no jet nebulizer. BiWaze Clear has a dual lumen breathing circuit and a vibrating mesh nebulizer so the entire breathing circuit is closed. As a result, the patient's exhaled breath is filtered by a coaxial bacterial-viral filter before entering the room air, ensuring a safer environment.

Time-saving OLE therapy

The BiWaze Clear system expands and clears the airways through a combination of airway clearance therapies in just 10 minutes which provides a time savings when compared to the standard HFCWO therapy time of 30 minutes (Figure 1).

Figure 1. BiWaze Clear OLE therapy takes 10 minutes, compared to 30 minutes for HFCWO therapy.

BiWaze Clear’s respiratory therapy is both efficient and adaptable, with an intuitive design that can be customized to meet each patient’s individual needs, promoting greater comfort and ease of use. To learn more about the BiWaze® Clear system and how it can help your patients clear their airways, visit https://abmrc.com/biwaze-clear-home-care/.

1. McIlwaine M, Button B, Nevitt SJ. Positive expiratory pressure physiotherapy for airway clearance in people with cystic fibrosis. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2019 Nov 27;2019(11)