June 30th, 2011 Advances in CPAP Machine Design Provide Smaller, Quieter, Sleeker Machines
Advances in CPAP Machine Design Provide Smaller, Quieter, Sleeker Machines
Richmond, VA (PRWEB) October 26, 2010
Users of a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) device to treat obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) for any length of time know that the battle toward smaller and quieter machines has been raging for years. Today, the battle has been won. No more will a CPAP machine be louder than the snoring of the person who uses it. Also, today’s machines are sleeker and much smaller than earlier models while providing advanced features to help all OSA patients better cope with compliance. If CPAP users haven’t seen the CPAP machines of today, they are missing out on some great features that can make the CPAP experience more comfortable.
Manufacturers of CPAP machines like Philips Respironics, ResMed, DeVilbiss Healthcare, and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare have taken great strides in the past few years to produce CPAP machines that are not only technically more capable with features like exhalation relief, data recording, auto titration, and heated humidification but have also made the effort to make CPAP machines look less like obtrusive medical devices and more like household products such as a clock radio. The effort made by manufacturers helps to increase patient acceptance of CPAP therapy and therefore increase patient compliance.
Silent. It’s the best word to describe any major CPAP machine designed in the last year to 18 months. The DeVilbiss Healthcare IntelliPAP boasts a published 26 dBA noise level. Consider a whisper in a library will register around 30 dBA and a CPAP user can imagine just how quiet this machine from DeVilbiss is. Similar newer machines from Respironics and ResMed can certainly claim the same honor in quietness. These new machines are nothing like the freight train sound-alikes from the past.
Features such as exhalation relief and auto titration have helped increase patient acceptance of CPAP therapy. Exhalation relief allows the patient to exhale against an automatically lowered pressure. The CPAP machine recognizes the end of an inspiratory cycle and can reduce the pressure for exhale by up to 3 cm H20. Exhalation relief is offered by most major manufacturers and may be labeled as C-FLEX (Respironics), A-FLEX (Respironics), SmartFlex (DeVilbiss), or EPR (ResMed). Auto-titrating machines, or Auto CPAP or APAP, have recently become more mainstream in the CPAP therapy industry too. Titration can be automatically adjusted by the machine to produce more pressure when needed or less when applicable. Some patients will find that having a set pressure at all times is not necessarily the best therapy. Factors such as alcohol consumption, sleep position, or prescribed medication can affect the way CPAP titration is delivered. An Auto CPAP can make adjustments to the air flow as needed and provide the therapy that is required for any given night.
The newest machine on the market is from New Zealand-based Fisher & Paykel Healthcare. The new Icon Premo is shaped unlike any previous machine before it with a footprint of only 6.5” square and includes a forward facing digital clock on the display that makes the entire machine look like nothing more than a simple alarm clock on your bedside table. In fact, it is also an alarm clock with the addition of AlarmTunes allowing patients to play MP3 files directly from the CPAP machine to start the morning. The features of the machine are far from simple, however. Fisher & Paykel is known for advancements in humidification including ThermoSmart. ThermoSmart Technology, with its unique heated breathing tube, delivers higher, customized humidity levels that are maintained through the night regardless of ambient temperature change. These higher humidity levels help maintain normal airway conditions without the side effect of condensation, or rain-out as it is affectionately called by CPAP patients. The Icon’s humidifier is built into the device with no need for two separate devices any longer. The new Icon is certainly a machine to watch in the industry.
This is just one example of the many new and advanced CPAP Machines available on the market today and always in stock at TheCPAPPeople.com. TheCPAPPeople.com is here to answer questions and to help with choices in CPAP therapy. They want patients everywhere to be savvy shoppers and to understand that choices are available. “Choices today include so many new options in CPAP machine design and technology. Our goal is to inform the patient and provide awareness of the options available,” says Tim Tillman, CIO of CPAP Connections, Inc. Browse the full selection of CPAP machines at TheCPAPPeople.com.
About CPAP Connections, Inc.
CPAP Connections, Inc. is a privately held company based in Chesterfield County in the Richmond-metro area of Virginia that sells CPAP machines, CPAP masks, and other CPAP supplies. Through a series of websites like TheCPAPPeople.com, CPAP Connections Inc. hopes to provide to sleep apnea patients the support and service they require for accurate compliance with CPAP therapy. More information can be found by visiting http://www.TheCPAPPeople.com .
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