Senior Research Week 4 – Shaheer Rehman

Shaheer R -

Hey everyone!

Welcome to Week 4 of my blog! This week, I learned a lot about new diseases and also progressed toward my project goal. First, I definitely had the coolest experience thus far in my project as I got to listen to a patient’s lungs. I have listened to lungs in the past, but the reason this was so cool is that the patient actually had severe COPD and wheezing. Fortunately, the doctor was able to give treatment to her, but I want to talk about what I heard.

Typically, a healthy lung usually has a clear sound, and all you will hear is the actual breath in and out. But in this patient, you could actually hear scratching in the lungs, and that was an indication of her COPD. That leads me to my next point, which was that I learned about COPD and asthma more in depth. COPD(Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) and Asthma are not exactly the same, but they are both very similar in their symptoms and treatment. Typically, they both entail a multitude of breathing problems depending on the severity and can be treated with inhalers or antibiotics.

Additionally, I was able to learn and meet some representatives from a company that specializes in CPAP masks and helps patients learn how to use them. It was really cool to see, but I still noticed how patients often still have problems with the fit of the masks. I have found online websites that can help match your face type to a specific mask, but none that really create a custom one yet, which I have been looking into. Thanks for the reading!

-Shaheer

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    collin_h
    Dear Shaheer: That sounds really interesting! How did you listen to the lungs and is there a way to apply that to make is assessible to others so that they can assess if they have COPD which is really common in Arizona so we can combat the problem as early as possible?
    March 8, 2025 at 8:13 am - Reply
      shaheer_r
      Hey Colin, that's a really good question! Listening to the lungs is quite simple, you just take a stethoscope and place it on various parts of the back and you are usually able to hear everything you need to. However, this wouldn't be the most helpful in diagnosing COPD on the patient's end, mostly because physical symptoms often come first, and then listening just helps confirm/figure out the severity.
      March 8, 2025 at 1:17 pm - Reply
    cameron_m
    Hey Shaheer, this is very interesting! How can you tell the difference between COPD and asthma?
    March 8, 2025 at 4:29 pm - Reply
    aswita_k
    Hey Shaheer! For the websites that you have found so far, were the differences in prices substantial compared to normal masks? And do you think that having custom masks would create a barrier for those from lower socio-economic backgrounds?
    March 8, 2025 at 11:14 pm - Reply

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