leak rate 7.2l/min on s9 autoset ...what does this mean?

[Boston Guy]

just seeing what a leak rate of 7.2l/ min meant on my s9 auto?

[tattooyu]

That's telling you how much air escaping in excess of what should be venting out of the exhaust port on the mask. My machine (S8 Autoset II) measure in L/sec.

7.2 l/min / 60 = 0.12 l/sec

That doesn't sound too bad, but you will have to see what the vent rate is for your particular mask at the pressure you use and see if you are within range. As close to zero as possible is what you want. I try to keep mine under 0.1 l/sec.

What are your apnea numbers (AHI, AI and HI) like on the machine?

[Boston Guy]

That's telling you how much air escaping in excess of what should be venting out of the exhaust port on the mask. My machine (S8 Autoset II) measure in L/sec.

7.2 l/min / 60 = 0.12 l/sec

That doesn't sound too bad, but you will have to see what the vent rate is for your particular mask at the pressure you use and see if you are within range. As close to zero as possible is what you want. I try to keep mine under 0.1 l/sec.

What are your apnea numbers (AHI, AI and HI) like on the machine?

ahi- .6
al- .5
central al- .4

[DreamOn]

Boston Guy, you don't need to know the vent rate for your mask with the ResMed S9 machines. You need to make sure that the "Mask" setting on your S9 Autoset is set correctly for your mask type, though. The choices are Pillows, Full Face, Nasal or Nasal (Ultra). The machine will automatically subtract the mask vent rate from the leak results, so the number displayed under Leak Rate is the the amount of leak over and above what would be expected for your mask type. This excess leakage may be coming from mask seal leaks, or if you wear a nasal or nasal pillows mask, the leaking may be from therapy air escaping from your mouth (either while awake or deep asleep).

With the ResMed machines, an "ideal" Leak Rate is zero. (Respironics machines work differently.) Your Leak Rate of 7.2 L/min is acceptable. The upper "acceptable" leak threshold for ResMed machines is 24 L/min (0.4 L/sec). Above that, and your therapy may be adversely affected. Your AHI may also be reported incorrectly when the leak rate is too high, as the machine can't compensate for excessive leaks.

Your AHI of 0.6 is excellent. Those few central apneas are probably due to sleep state changes or brief awakenings (that you may not even remember), and shouldn't be of any concern. I have them myself. Sometimes central apneas can be caused by the CPAP pressure itself in some people, but yours don't seem excessive.

I don't recall which type of mask you use, but if it is nasal or nasal pillows, you may want to experiment with a chin strap and/or mouth-taping to see if your Leak Rate is lower. If you use a full-face mask, then you're probably losing therapy air from the seal, maybe while you're sleeping. With ResScan software, you can see exactly when the leaks are occurring, which can help in troubleshooting any problems.

P.S. Please update your equipment listing, as that will help us tremendously if you have any further questions. That can be done via the User Control Panel (upper left on screen), then Profile, and then Edit Equipment. It would also help if you could include the exact model of ResMed mask (Quattro, Ultra, etc.) that you're using. If you can't find it in the mask drop-down list, just add the model name to your comments.

[Boston Guy]

Boston Guy, you don't need to know the vent rate for your mask with the ResMed S9 machines. You need to make sure that the "Mask" setting on your S9 Autoset is set correctly for your mask type, though. The choices are Pillows, Full Face, Nasal or Nasal (Ultra). The machine will automatically subtract the mask vent rate from the leak results, so the number displayed under Leak Rate is the the amount of leak over and above what would be expected for your mask type. This excess leakage may be coming from mask seal leaks, or if you wear a nasal or nasal pillows mask, the leaking may be from therapy air escaping from your mouth (either while awake or deep asleep).

With the ResMed machines, an "ideal" Leak Rate is zero. (Respironics machines work differently.) Your Leak Rate of 7.2 L/min is acceptable. The upper "acceptable" leak threshold for ResMed machines is 24 L/min (0.4 L/sec). Above that, and your therapy may be adversely affected. Your AHI may also be reported incorrectly when the leak rate is too high, as the machine can't compensate for excessive leaks.

Your AHI of 0.6 is excellent. Those few central apneas are probably due to sleep state changes or brief awakenings (that you may not even remember), and shouldn't be of any concern. I have them myself. Sometimes central apneas can be caused by the CPAP pressure itself in some people, but yours don't seem excessive.

I don't recall which type of mask you use, but if it is nasal or nasal pillows, you may want to experiment with a chin strap and/or mouth-taping to see if your Leak Rate is lower. If you use a full-face mask, then you're probably losing therapy air from the seal, maybe while you're sleeping. With ResScan software, you can see exactly when the leaks are occurring, which can help in troubleshooting any problems.

P.S. Please update your equipment listing, as that will help us tremendously if you have any further questions. That can be done via the User Control Panel (upper left on screen), then Profile, and then Edit Equipment. It would also help if you could include the exact model of ResMed mask (Quattro, Ultra, etc.) that you're using. If you can't find it in the mask drop-down list, just add the model name to your comments.

Thanks you for the response. I have updated my equipment listing to the correct data.

My apap settings are set to full face so that is correct. Last night the leak rate was up to 12L/ min. Tonight maybe I should try tightening the mask a little bit more to my face. Other than that my AHI- was down to .5. I dreamed alllll night, which I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not.

Now I need to figure out why when I put my sd card in my computers sd card slot and go into the resmed program and hit load data it says that there is no data card reader connected.

Well other than that so far so good.

[KatieW]

Now I need to figure out why when I put my sd card in my computers sd card slot and go into the resmed program and hit load data it says that there is no data card reader connected.

Well other than that so far so good.

Open Resmed 1st, then plug in your sd card.