Assistance with interpretation

[kylemw]

Hi!

Been on a ResMed Aircurve 10 ST-A in IVAPS mode for six months now.  Has done nice things for my O2 saturation levels.

So my question is this:

In the left hand panel of OSCAR there is a list of various events that are used to figure out your AHI:  Large Leak, Obstructive Apnea (OA), Unclassified Apnea (UA) and Hypopnea (H) along with Pulse Change (PC) and SpO2 Drop (SD) which would be provided by my O2 Sleep ring pulse/oximeter.

Are these events the total observed? Or the total not corrected by the IVAPS therapy?  I've usually only see Hypopnea (H) and/or Unclassified Apnea (UA) and, I think once, an Obstructive Apnea (OA).  From the OSCAR stats page my 30 day AHI is 0.39.

I've included today's OSCAR screen shots and one from pre-therapy days showing O2 levels

Many Thanks!

Kyle

[Sleeprider]

The index of events is the events per hour. A total number of events would be the event index times the therapy time, a little over 6.5 hours in this case. Your SpO2 is less than impressive during the first half of this therapy sessions, and you might want to put a dotted line at 88% on the SpO2 graph to show how often you fall into hypoxic territory. To add a dotted line, just right-click the y-axis near the chart title and select dotted line. You can specify any value for the line.

For IVAPS mode, your machine is providing very minimal pressure support. That means you are likely breathing spontaneously for the most part and meeting goals for alveolar volume and respiratory rate. We can see some periods where more pressure support is provided. I think there is an error in your settings because you Min EPAP is 15 and Min IPAP is 14.0. This means you don't get a consistent inspiratory pressure support. I normally expect to see the minimum IPAP at least 2-3 cm higher than min EPAP to ensure you get some pressure support on every breath, with the adaptive pressure support providing more pressure support to maintain vent targets as needed.

[kylemw]

Until last Wednesday the levels were:  EPAP 5.0-15.0 IPAP 5.0-26.0 (cmH2O) and then they were adjusted (remotely) to EPAP 5.0-15.0 IPAP 14.0-25.0 (cmH2O).  I've got a call into the therapist to see what's going on.

As to the O2 levels, yah, things are not optimum.  After a couple of visits to the spirometry lab it was determined that my lung function is lower than normal, but not, quite, into COPD territory.  My daytime O2 levels will sit in the 93-95% where most folks are in the 97-99%.  There may be an O2 concentrator in my future....

Many thanks for the breakdown, it will help me ask more meaningful questions when I talk with the therapist



Thanks

Kyle