leak rates?

[r48550]

I am using the F&P Icon Premo. The leak rate says "50 l/min"'. What are the acceptable limits for leaks? I'm using nose pillows.

[Pugsy]

Which nasal pillow mask? At what pressure?

I believe the F & P reports Total leak which is the mask's intentional vent/leak rate plus any excess leak.
Higher the pressure, the higher the intentional vent rate that is in the mix.

While I don't remember the exact total leak number where F & P says the machine can't compensate for excess leak, I do believe it was a very generous number. 75 L/min or 95 L/min wants to come to mind.

I never worried so much about the overall average leak unless it was grossly huge. I always just look at the leak line itself to see if there were any times where the leak seemed excessive enough to maybe impair therapy or events. Example I might have 6 hours with a very minimal leak and one hour with lots of leak. Overall average might be elevated somewhat giving the appearance of a problem when actually the problem was only happening during that one hour when things went haywire.

Don't remember if F & P software gives the leak line itself or just the average. If no leak line available then the overall average has to suffice and as long as it isn't grossly huge, things are probably going well at least for the bulk of the night.

Your reported 50 L/min is probably quite acceptable especially if you are using much pressure at all. My Swift FX nasal pillows allow for an intentional vent/leak of around 35 L/min at my average pressure. These aren't precise numbers anyway, just a close approximation to give us a general idea if leak is excessive.

To see your vent rate check your mask paperwork for the mask and then look at your pressure used to see what the vent/leak rate is for your particular situation.

[r48550]

I'm at level 10 and I'm using the RESMED Swift FX pillows.

I noticed my AHI is under 5 over the past 7 nights and was 2.8 last night. Those a pretty good numbers but I'm still feeling the headaches behind the eyes etc. I guess symptoms will decrease over time.

[Pugsy]

In case you don't have the paperwork for your mask, here is the graph for intentional leak/vent rates for the Swift FX. I looked briefly for the F & P manual that mentions acceptable leak rate but I couldn't find it. I remember seeing it in the past and kept the link for a long time then got rid of saved link cause I didn't think I needed it anymore.



While it does often take more time than we want to see pass before we have some really good positive "feelings" to go along with the good numbers, we can take that time to review other possible contributing factors. Hours of sleep? Is the sleep fragmented for any reason? Stuff like that.