Use of Aerocrine products for FENo measurement improves asthma management by detecting the type of underlying inflammation and as a result predicts patients who best respond to anti-inflammatory therapy, such as inhaled corticosteroids (ICS).

The immediate cost-saving implication is that FENO optimizes anti-inflammatory therapy and helps identify patients in whom ICS may not have an effect.

As a diagnostic tool, FENO can also help reduce the number of patients misdiagnosed with asthma who end up requiring subsequent consultations.

Furthermore, as  FENO is sensitive to minor changes in eosinophilic inflammation, it can be used to titrate the steroid dose according to an individual patient’s need. Again, this results in less healthcare resource wastage.

In fact, recent data shows that the introduction of regular FENO measurements using the NIOX family of products balances the costs incurred by the tests and generates a cost saving. A German study published in January 2008 showed that regular use of NIOX MINO to monitor FENO in asthma patients using ICS resulted in a cost saving of €30 per patient per year.[Berg] In patients with more severe asthma, NIOX MINO use resulted in savings of €160 per patient per year.

The obvious outcome of FENO monitoring with NIOX MINO is a healthier patient who is not as likely to need acute emergency care. Not only does that translate to cost savings, but it also includes more indirect savings like increased productivity  since less time is taken off work due to illness.