Making sense of significantly different leak rates - Printable Version +- Apnea Board Forum - CPAP | Sleep Apnea (https://www.apneaboard.com/forums) +-- Forum: Public Area (https://www.apneaboard.com/forums/Forum-Public-Area) +--- Forum: Main Apnea Board Forum (https://www.apneaboard.com/forums/Forum-Main-Apnea-Board-Forum) +--- Thread: Making sense of significantly different leak rates (/Thread-Making-sense-of-significantly-different-leak-rates) |
Making sense of significantly different leak rates - verysincere - 10-02-2021 In my personal experience with BIPAP, a night with a very low AHI and low pressures & flow limitations tends to correlate with a very low leak rate. Yet, sometimes I see a glaring exception which I am trying to understand. Two recent nights provide an example of such a contrast. Both had wonderful (and atypical for me) AHIs below 1.0 and low average pressures (and 0.0 flow limitations) yet significantly different Median and 95% leak rates: Sep.29: PRESSURE=16.60 AHI=0.83 FLOW LIMITATIONS=0.0 MEDIAN LEAK RATE=0.0, 95%LEAK RATE=0.0 Oct.01: PRESSURE=16.48 AHI=0.44 FLOW LIMITATIONS=0.0 MEDIAN LEAK RATE=9.6, 95% LEAK RATE=15.60 (Yes, I was using the same hose and nasal-pillows on both nights.) I care about such different leak rates because of the impact on airway dryness. NOTE: I am using an elaborate combination of tennis bands, chin-lift-strap, velcro straps, cervical collar, and Balaclava full face hood in order to prevent mouth leaks. (See attached photo. Despite the appearance, I am not an ISIS terrorist about to perform an execution.) Can you help me understand scenarios which can explain such a big difference under similar therapeutic conditions? |