New Neck-Worn device could ease COPD breathlessness in veterans
NCT ID NCT07404826
First seen Jun 27, 2026 · Last updated Jul 24, 2026 · Updated 1 time
Summary
This study tests a small, portable device called PEP Buddy that Veterans with COPD wear around their neck to help control breathlessness. Researchers will compare it to a sham device that looks the same but only provides the pressure of normal pursed-lip breathing. The goal is to see if the real device helps symptoms and exercise capacity improve faster during pulmonary rehabilitation and last longer after rehab ends.
What this could mean
Our plain-language read of the trial. This is informational only, not medical advice or a prediction.
- Active substance
- PEP Buddy (a portable device worn around the neck that provides positive expiratory pressure to ease breathing)
- What this could lead to
- If it works, this device could help people with COPD breathe easier and get more out of pulmonary rehabilitation, with benefits lasting longer after rehab ends.
- What could go wrong
- This is an early-stage trial with only 120 participants, and the sham device also provides some benefit from standard pursed-lip breathing, so the real device may not show a clear advantage.
This is an AI summary of the original study and may miss details. Read our disclaimer.
Study facts
What this study's own registry entry says, in plain language.
- Phase
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Not a phased trial
Phase numbers describe drug development. The registry uses this when they do not apply, as it does for trials of devices, procedures or behaviour changes, and for observational studies.
- Participants
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About 120 people
The number the study aims to enrol. It can still change while the study runs.
- Started
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Jul 2026
- Expected to finish
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Jul 2030
An estimate. End dates often move.
- Lead sponsor
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A government agency
The lead sponsor is a US federal agency other than the NIH.
Who can take part
This study's own entry requirements. Only the study team can say for certain whether you qualify.
- Ages
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40 to 89 years
- Sex
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Anyone
- Healthy volunteers
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Not accepted
This study is not open to healthy volunteers. The entry requirements below say who it is open to.
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Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.
Inclusion Criteria: * Veteran * Referral to Pulmonary Rehabilitation for COPD * FEV1 \<80% predicted * Participants must be able to exercise on 4L/m nasal cannula O2 Exclusion Criteria: * Those deemed by the study personnel to have a lung disease other than COPD impacting their daily dyspnea * Those that are unable to perform study procedures or are unwilling or unable to use PEP Buddy * Those that have a component of lung disease driven by aspiration or neurological conditions affecting the face or oropharynx * Those with a life expectancy of \<1 year * Those with a known surgical intervention that will require a prolonged recovery in the year after enrollment * Those with a malignancy beyond Stage I or non-melanoma skin cancer * Those shown shown to have memory loss of MOCA testing
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Conditions
The condition(s) this trial relates to.
As listed by the trial registrant
The condition terms exactly as the trial's registrant entered them.
How to take part
Only the study team decides who joins. These are the ways to reach them.
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The places running it
2 sites. The list below names each one and where it is.
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The official record
ClinicalTrials.gov lists the study team's own contact details, including names and phone numbers. We don't republish those.
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A doctor treating you
A doctor who knows your case can contact a study site on your behalf, and can tell you whether this study is worth pursuing at all.
Contacts and locations
Locations
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Cincinnati VA Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH
RECRUITINGCincinnati, Ohio, 45220-2213, United States
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Louis Stokes VA Medical Center, Cleveland, OH
NOT_YET_RECRUITINGCleveland, Ohio, 44106-1702, United States
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