Leaks

[Jeffros]

Just wondering if my leak data below is within normal range - There has only been one high leak warning on machine allthough sleepy head is recording 95% often great than 50. I read on one of the threads someone had a 95% of zero for last 7 days ?

Details Most Recent Last 7 Days Last 30 Days Last 6 months Last Year
Average Pressure 8.19 6.35 6.27 6.27 6.27
95% Pressure 10.00 9.00 10.00 10.00 10.00
Average Total Leaks 40.78 36.08 40.68 40.68 40.68
95% Total Leaks 50.73 45.00 82.50 82.50 82.50

[Pugsy]

I read on one of the threads someone had a 95% of zero for last 7 days ?

Probably a ResMed machine. They report only excess leak.
Respironics and the DeVilbiss machines report total leak. Total leak is the mask vent rate and any excess leak.
Vent rate (also called intentional leak) will vary by mask type and pressure used. Lower pressures equal lower vent rates...higher pressures will give higher vent rates within the same mask. Nasal pillow masks have an overall less vent rate when compared to full face masks even at the same pressure.

I don't remember where Devilbiss says that leaks are excessive but it is a fairly generous number. For some reason 90 L/min seems to come to mind. A Devilbiss user could tell you though. Remember it is total leak and you won't ever see a 0.0 leak number. Even if leaks were minimal there is always the vent rate in the leak number reported.

95% numbers of anything don't always mean a whole lot because they are easily skewed.
On the face of things it just means that for 95% of the time you were are OR below that number. People tend to forget the OR BELOW part of the definition. The other night I had a 16 L/min (I am using ResMed machine) and my line to avoid is 24 L/min so on the surface it appears that I had a pretty good leak with 16...but when I looked at the actual reports I had about 30 minutes of a good sized leak and the rest of the time it was minimal to none.

So look in your mask literature for your expected intentional vent rate at your pressure and you will have a starting point to evaluate overall leak. I suspect it will be fairly close to your overall average leak.
I am pretty sure that your 50 L/min overall average is well below DeVilbiss large leak territory and leaks aren't bad enough to impact therapy for the bulk of the night.
Now if leaks wake you up that is a different story because anything that disturbs sleep is unwanted.
Without seeing your reports I suspect that for the most part your leaks are minimal and you have a few spikes which are driving the 95% number upwards. Likely not long enough to really impact therapy all that much when looking at the overall night.

[greatunclebill]

So look in your mask literature for your expected intentional vent rate at your pressure and you will have a starting point to evaluate overall leak. I suspect it will be fairly close to your overall average leak.
I am pretty sure that your 50 L/min overall average is well below DeVilbiss large leak territory and leaks aren't bad enough to impact therapy for the bulk of the night.
Now if leaks wake you up that is a different story because anything that disturbs sleep is unwanted.
Without seeing your reports I suspect that for the most part your leaks are minimal and you have a few spikes which are driving the 95% number upwards. Likely not long enough to really impact therapy all that much when looking at the overall night.

quattro and quattro fx have the same vent rates. 22,32,41,48 and 54L at pressures of 4,8,12,16 and 20.

[Pugsy]

long enough to really impact therapy all that much when looking at the overall night.


quattro and quattro fx have the same vent rates. 22,32,41,48 and 54L at pressures of 4,8,12,16 and 20.

Thanks, I was too lazy to look it up and I like to make people look up their own stuff sometimes unless I have it handy.

At a pressure of 10 then the vent rate would be roughly 36 or 37 L/min.
Real close to the overall average of 40 for the one night listed. I discount the other long term numbers because they likely are including nights when first getting used to mask fit and adjustments were probably very frequent.
For newbies I just prefer to look at individual nightly numbers that are the most recent.
It can't ever be evaluated exact anyway because when pressures vary then the vent rate also varies.

I imagine that if we looked at OP leak line graph that most of the time it would be fairly steady line with a few spikes that are short lived. Overall likely a really good night in regards to leaks and certainly well below any levels where therapy or sensing of events might be impaired.

[Jeffros]

Thanks heaps for feedback, I didnt think to check vent rates of my mask, still getting used to the whole cpap thing.

Im not waking up during the night from leaks and knowing now that leak rate is including the mask vent seems Im probably doing ok with current mask.

Last 2 nights I didnt tare off during sleep which is a first