초록 ▼

In the treatment of obstructive sleep apnea, a method and apparatus are disclosed for detecting obstructive apnea and optimizing the controlled positive pressure to minimize the flow of air from a flow generator while still ensuring that flow limitation in the patient's airway does not occur. In par

In the treatment of obstructive sleep apnea, a method and apparatus are disclosed for detecting obstructive apnea and optimizing the controlled positive pressure to minimize the flow of air from a flow generator while still ensuring that flow limitation in the patient's airway does not occur. In particular, the invention relates to a breathing device and method of use to adjust a controlled positive pressure to the airway of a patient by detecting flow limitation from analysis of an inspiratory flow waveform. Once the presence of flow limitation has been analyzed, the system determines an action to take for adjustment of the controlled positive pressure. The pressure setting is raised, lowered or maintained depending on whether flow limitation has been detected and on the previous actions taken by the system. The preferred breathing apparatus consists of a flow generator, a flow sensor, an analog to digital converter, a microprocessor, and a pressure controller, a patient supply hose, a nasal fitting, and, optionally, a pressure transducer. Using the method of the present invention, the microprocessor adjusts the air pressure in the patient supply hose when flow limitation is detected in the airway of the patient.

대표청구항 ▼

[ What is claimed is:] [1.] A method for optimizing the positive airway pressure to a patient, comprising the steps of:a) applying an initial level of positive airway pressure of a breathing gas to a patient;b) detecting the onset of an inspiratory flow of breathing gas to the patient;c) storing dat

[ What is claimed is:] [1.] A method for optimizing the positive airway pressure to a patient, comprising the steps of:a) applying an initial level of positive airway pressure of a breathing gas to a patient;b) detecting the onset of an inspiratory flow of breathing gas to the patient;c) storing data values representative of the inspiratory flow of breathing gas to the patient;d) determining whether the stored data values indicate a flow limitation in the patient by calculating the ratio of the area of the inspiratory waveform to the area of a pure sine wave to create a first index; ande) increasing the positive airway pressure when the stored data values indicate a flow limitation in the patient.