Resmed algorithm

[Paul B]

Back in 2016, I ended up with a new Resmed Autoset 10 and it included a setting in the clinician menu for a soft setting, which I was told at the time duplicated the Autoset for her setting. You could either turn it on or off and I turned it on and it made a nice difference in treatment.

Switch to 2020, and I have just purchased a new Resmed 10 VPAP Auto and I'm wondering if that same soft setting has been included by Resmed in their latest firmware algorithm. There is no setting for it in the clinician menu, but perhaps it has been included as standard.

Anybody have any idea?

Paul

[palerider]

Back in 2016, I ended up with a new Resmed Autoset 10 and it included a setting in the clinician menu for a soft setting, which I was told at the time duplicated the Autoset for her setting.

You were told wrong.

It might have been similar to one aspect of the several things that the 'for her' does, what would be the point of duplicating the 'for her' treatment in the non 'for her' machine?

[chunkyfrog]

. . .
You were told wrong.
. . .

Hmmm let me guess--that's what the DME said.
They will do that, and worse.
Not all of them, but enough . . .

[Paul B]

Palerider, as I understood it at the time, the point was to offer an optional setting for those who wanted to compare the results of using it or not. As you say it may only be one of a series of changes made to the Autoset for Her machine, but one which Resmed chose to include in the basic Autoset 10 because they foresaw some benefit from doing so.

[Pugsy]

Even ResMed isn't real clear about what standard vs soft does.

https://www.resmed.com/ap/en/healthcare ... ology.html

For patients who are sensitive to faster changes in pressure during therapy, AutoSet Response can be set to either Standard or Soft. If set to soft, patients will receive gentler pressure rises during therapy.

There are other things that the for Her Algorithm does that the regular auto adjusting algorithm doesn't do...like set a new minimum pressure if a person has 2 OAs within 2 minutes (the for Her will do that) and I have seen it happen.
I don't see a mention to that at the ResMed website.

I got the impression that the "soft" response was just for the pressure changes/increases when the machine needed to do them...not so abrupt or quick. I have never seen anything that led me to believe that "soft" was equal to the "for Her" algorithm.

And I would think that if it were the case then why offer it on the Autoset for Her model.

Available in the AirSense 10 AutoSet and AirSense 10 AutoSet for Her devices.

So to my thinking.....soft response means a gentler response or change in pressures but since there is no mention of the other stuff that the for Her algorithm does (and there is more)....I don't think that soft equals For Her algorithm in total. I think it's just a portion of it maybe.

[Paul B]

Pugsy, thank you kindly. Your attachment and description is useful in explaining the "soft" setting in the Autoset 10 algorithm therapy. It looks like it is only available for the Autoset 10 and not an option in the VPAP bilevel therapy.

[Dog Slobber]

I used the soft response on my AS 10 AS for Her for a while.

Here's my observations:

• As the name suggests, it only impacts the response, a gentler increase and decrease in pressure.
• It didn't create any of the other for Her algorithm features. IE, establishing a new minimum pressure.
• If one turns on the APAP for her algorithm, then the Soft Response Option disappears.
• The Soft Option was not available with earlier AS 10 AS for Hers. At which time, it was also introduced in standard AS 10 ASs as well.

I looked for it on my AirCurve 10 VAuto, it's not present. I've wondered if newer AirCurve's have it.

[Pugsy]

I used the soft response on my AS 10 AS for Her for a while.

Here's my observations:

• As the name suggests, it only impacts the response, a gentler increase and decrease in pressure.
• It didn't create any of the other for Her algorithm features. IE, establishing a new minimum pressure.
• If one turns on the APAP for her algorithm, then the Soft Response Option disappears.
• The Soft Option was not available with earlier AS 10 AS for Hers. At which time, it was also introduced in standard AS 10 ASs as well.

I looked for it on my AirCurve 10 VAuto, it's not present. I've wondered if newer AirCurve's have it.

I have one of the earlier AutoSet for Her machines. It doesn't have the Soft option in the regular algorithm menu choices. So I have never been able to test out that particular feature. It's not something that I felt I just had to try out and get and see what it was like to actually spend money on getting it as in finding another AutoSet that had it. So I haven't bothered.

It isn't available on my AirCurve 10 either. I did look for it when I got my AirCurve 10 which is about 3 years old I think. I know it still had some warranty left available when I first got it last year. I would have to go look to see exactly how old it is. So it's not all that old. I have never seen anyone ask about a "soft" setting when asking about choices on the AirCurve menu. I tend to think it isn't available on the AirCurve machines even the ones now but I haven't got any proof.

I can understand Paul asking about it since he was told that soft equals the for Her algorithm by his DME because when I was looking all this up last night I stumbled across a post on the apneaboard forum telling someone who asked about it that soft equaled the for Her algorithm. People apparently are thinking it and perpetuating that erroneous claim and its not just the DMEs. The person who said that on the forum was a person who had been there a long time.

IMHO...ResMed took a feature that is part of the for Her algorithm and made it available on the regular AutoSets....but it's not a total for Her algorithm difference. There's a lot more to the For Her algorithm than the gentler response and the new minimum pressure if 2 OAs happen within a minute thing and I have seen some reports where people use the soft response and the way the machine responds isn't like the for Her responds. Especially at higher pressures. If someone needs pressures consistently over 12...the for Her algorithm probably isn't a good choice to use. It won't do a good job for some people who have a lot of OAs above 12 cm pressure. It's just not aggressive enough. Lets too much happen before it does anything and then doesn't do enough when it does do something.

[palerider]

Palerider, as I understood it at the time, the point was to offer an optional setting for those who wanted to compare the results of using it or not. As you say it may only be one of a series of changes made to the Autoset for Her machine, but one which Resmed chose to include in the basic Autoset 10 because they foresaw some benefit from doing so.

And, I'm saying what I said, you were told wrong. The features of the "for her" mode are documented, and "soft response" is not it.