Dr. Thomas Aldrich's clinical and research interests include:
- respiratory mechanics
- respiratory muscle physiology
- pulmonary complications of sickle cell disease
- development of new instruments in pulmonary function testing
Current Projects
- Nocturnal hypoxemia in sickle cell disease, measured by overnight pulse oximetry at home and correlated with clinical severity of sickle cell complications.
- Noninvasive positive pressure breathing as adjunctive therapy for pain crisis of sickle cell disease.
- The oxygen affinity of sickle hemoglobin—variation by severity of hypoxemia.
- Development of a four-LED pulse oximeter for measurements of carboxy- and met-hemoglobins, as well as oxyhemoglobin.