Patent application number | Description | Published |
20090013999 | ADJUSTMENT OF TARGET VENTILATION IN A SERVOVENTILATOR - A servoventilator control slowly changes the target ventilation over a period of time, according to a preprogrammed schedule adapted to be set by the physician. Preferably, the target ventilation stays constant at an initial target ventilation for an initial hold time, and then increases at a constant rate until it reaches a final target ventilation, whereupon it stays constant thereafter. If the pressure support level is too high, possibly indicating glottic or upper airway closure, the rate of increase of target ventilation may be lowered or the final target ventilation not reached. | 01-15-2009 |
20090326403 | DISTINGUISHING CLOSED AND OPEN RESPIRATORY AIRWAY APNEAS BY COMPLEX ADMITTANCE VALUES - Methods and apparatus are disclosed for determining the occurrence of a closed or open apnea. Respiratory air flow from a patient is measured to give an air flow signal. The determination of an apnea is performed by applying an oscillatory pressure waveform of known frequency to a patient's airway, calculating a complex quantity representing a patient admittance ( | 12-31-2009 |
20100018531 | Methods And Apparatus For Varying The Back-Up Rate For A Ventilator - A ventilator device delivers ventilatory support to a patient in a back up timed mode when patient respiration is not detected or a spontaneous mode when patient respiration is detected. The timing threshold governing the back-up mode is chosen to deviate from normal expected respiration time for the patient to promote patient initiated ventilation in the spontaneous mode but permit back-up ventilation in the event of apnea. Automated adjustments to the timing threshold during the timed mode are made from the less vigilant timing threshold to a more vigilant threshold at or near a timing of normal expected breathing of the patient. Such adjustments may be made from a minimum to a maximum vigilance timing settings or incrementally there between as a function of time in the timed mode which is preferably the number of delivered machine breaths. | 01-28-2010 |
20100043795 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR HEART FAILURE TREATMENT - Methods and apparatus for assessing the condition of and treating patients for heart failure by the delivery of continuous positive airway pressure are disclosed. Treatment of obstruction due to reflex vocal cord closure often experienced by heart failure patients is distinguished from treatment of upper airway obstruction typically associated with Obstructive Sleep Disorder Treatment may also be implemented by delivering synchronized cardiac pressure oscillations superimposed on a respiratory pressure level to provide assistance for the heart. Heart treatment pressure dose indicator may be calculated for prescribing and monitoring the delivery of treatment. The apparatus may also generate data to track heart failure condition that may be indicative of the degree of severity of heart failure based upon breathing patterns to assist in the diagnosis and management of heart failure patients. | 02-25-2010 |
20100108066 | Methods, systems and apparatus for paced breathing - Methods, systems and/or apparatus for slowing a patient's breathing by using positive pressure therapy. In certain embodiments, a current interim breathing rate target is set, and periodically the magnitude of a variable pressure waveform that is scaled to the current interim breathing rate target is increased if the patient's breathing rate is greater than the interim breathing rate target in order to lengthen the patient's breath duration. The magnitude of the pressure increase may be a function of the difference between the interim breathing rate target and the patient's breathing rate. The interim breathing rate target may be periodically reduced in response to the patient's breathing rate slowing down toward the current interim breathing rate target. The variable pressure waveform cycles from an inhalation phase to an exhalation phase when the patient airflow decreases to a cycle threshold, the cycle threshold being a function of flow versus time within a breath and generally increasing with time. Different interim breathing rate targets have different cycle threshold functions, and the cycle threshold functions allow easier cycling as the interim breathing rate targets decrease. Similarly, the variable pressure waveform triggers from an exhalation phase to an inhalation phase when the patient airflow increases to a trigger threshold, the trigger threshold being a function of flow versus time within a breath and generally decreasing with time. Different interim breathing rate targets have different trigger threshold functions, and the trigger threshold functions allow easier triggering as the interim breathing rate targets decrease. | 05-06-2010 |
20100222685 | MACRO-CONTROL OF TREATMENT FOR SLEEP DISORDERED BREATHING - A method and apparatus for treating sleep disordered breathing. An arousal index is determined for use in an outer loop of a control algorithm, the arousal index being a measure of the frequency of sleep arousals. The respiratory airflow signal in an inner loop of the control algorithm is monitored to detect an airway obstruction. If the arousal index is high, then the sensitivity of obstruction detection and/or the aggressiveness of the treatment is increased, and if the arousal index is low, then the sensitivity of the obstruction detection and/or the aggressiveness of the treatment is decreased | 09-02-2010 |
20100258126 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR HEART FAILURE TREATMENT - Methods and apparatus for assessing the condition of and treating patients for heart failure by the delivery of continuous positive airway pressure are disclosed. Airflow of the patient is measured to determine occurrences of central apneas. A heart failure index is calculated from a count of the number of central apneas that have occurred. The present heart failure index can be compared with a previously calculated heart failure index to determine how the patient's heart failure disease has changed and how it should be treated. | 10-14-2010 |
20100275921 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR DETECTING AND TREATING RESPIRATORY INSUFFICIENCY - Devices and systems provide methods of detecting a severity change in respiratory insufficiency (RI) or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) condition of a patient. In an example embodiment, a detection monitoring device determines one or more severity change indicators based on a measure of supplied pressure or other representative measure determined by the device. The supplied pressure may optionally be determined during pressure treatment that satisfies a target ventilation. The supplied pressure or representative data may be compared to one or more thresholds that are selected to represent a change in the condition of the RI or COPD patient such as an exacerbation of a prior condition. Results of the comparisons may trigger one or more warnings or messages to notify a patient or physician of a pending change to the patient's RI or COPD condition so that the patient may more immediately seek medical attention to treat the condition. | 11-04-2010 |
20110092841 | METHODS FOR PROVIDING EXPIRATORY PRESSURE RELIEF IN POSITIVE AIRWAY PRESSURE THERAPY - A method of operating a CPAP apparatus in which the interface pressure is controlled to rapidly drop at the start of expiration by an expiratory relief pressure (ERP) that is independent of instantaneous respiratory flow, following which the pressure rises to an inspiratory level at or shortly before the end of expiration, or at the onset of an expiratory pause, if any. The ERP is an increasing function of the inspiratory pressure. The expiratory pressure follows a template that is a function of the expected expiration time, the magnitude of the template being equal to the ERP. The current estimated proportion of expiration is determined by comparing the expiration time of the breath in progress to low-pass filtered expiratory durations measured for a number of the preceding breaths. | 04-21-2011 |
20110139156 | VENTILATOR PATIENT SYNCHRONIZATION - A method and apparatus that provides an expert system for determining respiratory phase during ventilatory support of a subject. Discrete phase states are partitioned and prior probability functions and observed probability functions for each state are defined. The probability functions are based upon relative duration of each state as well as the flow characteristics of each state. These functions are combined to determine phase probabilities for each state using Bayes' theorem. The calculated probabilities for the states may then be compared to determine which state the subject is experiencing. A ventilator may then conform respiratory support in accordance with the most probable phase. To provide a learning feature, the probability functions may be adjusted during use to provide a more subject specific response that accounts for changing respiratory characteristics. | 06-16-2011 |
20120012110 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR VARYING THE BACK-UP RATE FOR A VENTILATOR - A ventilator device delivers ventilatory support to a patient in a back up timed mode when patient respiration is not detected or a spontaneous mode when patient respiration is detected. The timing threshold governing the back-up mode is chosen to deviate from normal expected respiration time for the patient to promote patient initiated ventilation in the spontaneous mode but permit back-up ventilation in the event of apnea. Automated adjustments to the timing threshold during the timed mode are made from the less vigilant timing threshold to a more vigilant threshold at or near a timing of normal expected breathing of the patient. Such adjustments may be made from a minimum to a maximum vigilance timing settings or incrementally there between as a function of time in the timed mode which is preferably the number of delivered machine breaths. | 01-19-2012 |
20120145153 | SETUP AUTOMATION FOR RESPIRATORY TREATMENT APPARATUS - A respiratory treatment apparatus implements pressure delivery control settings by improved set-up procedures. In such an embodiment, a processor may automate setting of parameters for delivering a controlled flow of breathable gas. Data sets of pressure delivery parameter settings may be associated with one or more respiratory pathology indicators. The respiratory pathology indicators may each represent a different respiratory condition diagnosis. The processor may then prompt for an input of at least one of the respiratory pathology indicators. In response to the input, a particular set of pressure delivery parameter settings associated with the input respiratory pathology indicator may then serve as a basis for setting controls for delivering a controlled flow of breathable gas for respiratory treatment. | 06-14-2012 |
20120160243 | MACRO-CONTROL OF TREATMENT FOR SLEEP DISORDERED BREATHING - A method and apparatus for treating sleep disordered breathing. An arousal index is determined for use in an outer loop of a control algorithm, the arousal index being a measure of the frequency of sleep arousals. The respiratory airflow signal in an inner loop of the control algorithm is monitored to detect an airway obstruction. If the arousal index is high, then the sensitivity of obstruction detection and/or the aggressiveness of the treatment is increased, and if the arousal index is low, then the sensitivity of the obstruction detection and/or the aggressiveness of the treatment is decreased. | 06-28-2012 |
20130019868 | DETERMINATION OF LEAK DURING CPAP TREATMENT - A respiratory treatment apparatus and method in which a leak is determined by using an averaging window. The window starts at the present time and extends back in time to a point determined according to a current one of progressively detected phase measures of a first respiratory cycle and a corresponding phase measure attributable to a preceding second respiratory cycle. In another aspect, a jamming index indicates whether the leak is rapidly changing. To the extent that jamming is high, the leak estimate used progressively changes from that using sliding breath-window averaging to a more robust and faster responding low-pass filter method, and adjustment of ventilatory support based on measures employing estimated respiratory flow is slowed down or stopped. | 01-24-2013 |
20130118494 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR HEART FAILURE TREATMENT - Methods and apparatus for assessing the condition of and treating patients for heart failure by the delivery of continuous positive airway pressure are disclosed. Treatment of obstruction due to reflex vocal cord closure often experienced by heart failure patients is distinguished from treatment of upper airway obstruction typically associated with Obstructive Sleep Disorder. Treatment may also be implemented by delivering synchronized cardiac pressure oscillations superimposed on a respiratory pressure level to provide assistance for the heart. Heart treatment pressure dose indicator may be calculated for prescribing and monitoring the delivery of treatment. The apparatus may also generate data to track heart failure condition that may be indicative of the degree of severity of heart failure based upon breathing patterns to assist in the diagnosis and management of heart failure patients. | 05-16-2013 |
20130228182 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR VARYING THE BACK-UP RATE FOR A VENTILATOR - A ventilator device delivers ventilatory support to a patient in a back up timed mode when patient respiration is not detected or a spontaneous mode when patient respiration is detected. The timing threshold governing the back-up mode is chosen to deviate from normal expected respiration time for the patient to promote patient initiated ventilation in the spontaneous mode but permit back-up ventilation in the event of apnea. Automated adjustments to the timing threshold during the timed mode are made from the less vigilant timing threshold to a more vigilant threshold at or near a timing of normal expected breathing of the patient. Such adjustments may be made from a minimum to a maximum vigilance timing settings or incrementally there between as a function of time in the timed mode which is preferably the number of delivered machine breaths. | 09-05-2013 |
20130276786 | DETERMINATION OF LEAK DURING CPAP TREATMENT - A respiratory treatment apparatus and method in which a leak is determined by using an averaging window. The window starts at the present time and extends back in time to a point determined according to a current one of progressively detected phase measures of a first respiratory cycle and a corresponding phase measure attributable to a preceding second respiratory cycle. In another aspect, a jamming index indicates whether the leak is rapidly changing. To the extent that jamming is high, the leak estimate used progressively changes from that using sliding breath-window averaging to a more robust and faster responding low-pass filter method, and adjustment of ventilatory support based on measures employing estimated respiratory flow is slowed down or stopped. | 10-24-2013 |
20130340759 | DETERMINING SUITABLE VENTILATOR SETTINGS FOR PATIENTS WITH ALVEOLAR HYPOVENTILATION DURING SLEEP - A method and apparatus for determining suitable settings for a servo-ventilator to be used during a treatment period. Respiratory characteristics of a patient are measured during a learning period preceding the treatment period. With these measured characteristics, a target ventilation setting may be calculated by alternative methods. The calculated setting may then be used for enforcing a minimum ventilation during the treatment period where ventilatory support is provided with a servo-controlled ventilator. | 12-26-2013 |
20140290658 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING VENTILATION TO A PATIENT - The present technology relates to methods and apparatus to provide ventilation to patients. In particular, the present technology relates to changing ventilator parameters to match changing patient metabolic demand. | 10-02-2014 |
20140326241 | METHODS, SYSTEMS AND APPARATUS FOR PACED BREATHING - Methods, systems and/or apparatus for slowing a patient's breathing by using positive pressure therapy. In certain embodiments, a current interim breathing rate target is set, and periodically the magnitude of a variable pressure waveform that is scaled to the current interim breathing rate target is increased if the patient's breathing rate is greater than the interim breathing rate target in order to lengthen the patient's breath duration. The magnitude of the pressure increase may be a function of the difference between the interim breathing rate target and the patient's breathing rate. The interim breathing rate target may be periodically reduced in response to the patient's breathing rate slowing down toward the current interim breathing rate target. The variable pressure waveform cycles from an inhalation phase to an exhalation phase when the patient airflow decreases to a cycle threshold, the cycle threshold being a function of flow versus time within a breath and generally increasing with time. Different interim breathing rate targets have different cycle threshold functions, and the cycle threshold functions allow easier cycling as the interim breathing rate targets decrease. Similarly, the variable pressure waveform triggers from an exhalation phase to an inhalation phase when the patient airflow increases to a trigger threshold, the trigger threshold being a function of flow versus time within a breath and generally decreasing with time. Different interim breathing rate targets have different trigger threshold functions, and the trigger threshold functions allow easier triggering as the interim breathing rate targets decrease. | 11-06-2014 |
20150020808 | METHODS AND APPARATUS WITH IMPROVED VENTILATORY SUPPORT CYCLING - A ventilator that delivers air at different pressures to a patient during inspiratory and expiratory cycles of breathing and that cycles from inspiratory to expiratory operation when the patient's respiratory flow passes a threshold level. The threshold generally increases form the beginning of inspiration to the end of inspiration. The increase can be linear over all or only a proton of the inspiratory cycle, and the threshold can be adjusted so that cycling is prevented during the initial portion of an inspiratory cycle. The minimum and maximum levels may both be functions of peak flow and the threshold may increase as a function of elapsed inspiratory time. The rate at which the threshold increases from a minimum level to a maximum level may be adjustable for individual patient needs and may be determined from previous breaths. | 01-22-2015 |
20150038868 | METHODS FOR PROVIDING EXPIRATORY PRESSURE RELIEF IN POSITIVE AIRWAY PRESSURE THERAPY - A method of operating a CPAP apparatus in which the interface pressure is controlled to rapidly drop at the start of expiration by an expiratory relief pressure (ERP) that is independent of instantaneous respiratory flow, following which the pressure rises to an inspiratory level at or shortly before the end of expiration, or at the onset of an expiratory pause, if any. The ERP is an increasing function of the inspiratory pressure. The expiratory pressure follows a template that is a function of the expected expiration time, the magnitude of the template being equal to the ERP. The current estimated proportion of expiration is determined by comparing the expiration time of the breath in progress to low-pass filtered expiratory durations measured for a number of the preceding breaths. | 02-05-2015 |
20150059755 | APPARATUS AND METHODS FOR VENTILATORY TREATMENT - Disclosed is an apparatus for treating a respiratory disorder, configured to compute a measure of typical recent ventilation such that a rate of adjustment of the measure of typical recent ventilation is reduced as a measure of recent uncompensated leak increases. Also disclosed is an apparatus for treating a respiratory disorder, configured to compute a target ventilation from a product of a measure of typical recent ventilation and a target fraction, wherein the target fraction is dependent on the recent pressure support. | 03-05-2015 |