Rescan software and doctors

The Rescan software is terrible .. especially compared to the software from Respironics and other companies.

I can't believe sleep doctors are not complaining to Resmed about this terrible excuse for software.

Or, does Resmed give doctors better software? Is Rescan just some trash they released to the public to shut us up?

Arizona-Willie wrote:The Rescan software is terrible .. especially compared to the software from Respironics and other companies.

I can't believe sleep doctors are not complaining to Resmed about this terrible excuse for software.

Or, does Resmed give doctors better software? Is Rescan just some trash they released to the public to shut us up?

You got that right, I tried to warn you about that before you spent your money on it, obviously you didn't heed that advice.

You are better off just looking at the AI, HI and leak from the LCD display.

I suspect it is all in what you first get used to. I don't like the EncorePro software. The ONLY thing about the EncorePro reporting that I do wish Resmed would provide is the Daily Events Per Hour. I find the ResScan data reporting software MUCH easier to use and understand than EncorePro. My introduction to xPAP software was w/the Resmeds rather than the Respironics. I really quite dislike the EncorePro software even w/MyEncore and EncoreAnalyzer.

I have no experience w/the Puritan Bennett/Covidien software nor w/the DeVilBiss software for their new IntelliPAPs so can't comment on their data reporting.

You are crediting these sleep doctors w/more interest in the data from these fully data capable xPAPs than they have. 90% of them, even Mayo Clinic sleep specialists, don't care about or understand any more than the compliance data.

I started with the Autoscan 5.7 from Resmed and it was barely adequate. At least you can export data from it and get a hard count on how many hypopneas you had and it would tell you when each one occurred although not how long it lasted. Apneas it also tells you how long the apnea lasted.

In my opinion the duration of hypopneas is important too. By their definition a hypopnea is a reduction in airflow up to 75% for more than 10 seconds. Well, having 3/4 of your air cut off is bound to result in a reduction in saturated oxygen just as does an apnea. In fact a short apnea probably does less damage than a long hypopnea but they just shrug hypops off like they aren't all that important.

Most people seem to have far more hypopneas than apneas and having their airflow significantly reduced by hypopneas would seem to be a bad thing.

However, no software I've seen tells you the length of the hypopneas.

I got the Rescan and was disappointed in it to say the least. Much of the functionality of the old Autoscan 5.7 is gone and all it has is some prettier graphs.

Recently I tested some Respirionics APAP machines and software and they give far more information .. especially with the Analyzer.

I've only been back on my S8 Elite cpap for a week but my numbers are double what they were on the APAP. But I am running it higher than I used to. Just double checked and this weeks numbers are slightly higher than on CPAP at a bit lower setting. I was running at 10.4 and this week has been at 11 and the numbers are somewhat higher so I will drop back some. But the APAP definitely cut the numbers in half or darn close to it. Not too bad even on CPAP but the lower the better.

Respironics certainly has the software edge. Resmed should fire their programmers. And whoever hired them.

Arizona-Willie wrote:The Rescan software is terrible .. especially compared to the software from Respironics and other companies.

I can't believe sleep doctors are not complaining to Resmed about this terrible excuse for software.

Or, does Resmed give doctors better software? Is Rescan just some trash they released to the public to shut us up?

I would tend to agree with you on that Willie. There are certainly some items that could be handled better.

Just two items more on the ease of use side that I would like to see...
-A way to make it default to your file/data on startup.
-A way to make it default to downloading ALL data rather than just summary by default.
-Why bother with this "card" thing for data transfer where a USB port would be simple and negate the need to purchase the card reader.

On the data side...
-I would love to see a display of those events the machine successfully took care of.

There needs to be a menu item like "Tools > Options" so we can configure some of these items. Oh well, at least it gives me an idea of what my pressure & leaks are doing & when... along with when any untreated events happen.

Slinky wrote:You are crediting these sleep doctors w/more interest in the data from these fully data capable xPAPs than they have. 90% of them, even Mayo Clinic sleep specialists, don't care about or understand any more than the compliance data.

You've got that right, Slinky! Hours of use is about all that any doctors would bother to look at....or, more likely, leave it to the DME to tell them if the user is "using" the machine the minimum number of hours required for "compliance."

Only if an autopap has been prescribed for a trial period to find an effective pressure, would a doctor (or the DME he leaves it up to) bother to glance at the 95th or 90th percentile pressure -- with a view to putting the person on straight CPAP at that pressure.

One of the most important things that a "full data" machine's reports can give is the leak rate. A bad leak rate can render other info from the machine practically useless. But I'd bet most doctors/DMEs never look at the leak data.

Having used all three brands' software, I'd rate them in this order:

1. Puritan Bennett's Silverlining software (and from what I've seen of their Sandman software...that, too.)

2. Respironics' Encore Pro and Encore Viewer (both give exactly the same data, displayed exactly the same.)

3. ResMed's software -- a distant third.

I'm not defending the ResMed software. I have complaints too. But I think some of the defaults (like needing input of a specific patient and summary info over detailed) is due to the fact that the software wasn't really designed to be used by the patient.

I don't use a card and card reader. I purchased the adapter that slides over the card slot and that allows me to hook the machine directly to my computer with a USB cable. No card and card reader needed.

In my opinion, if someone is worried about desaturations from hypopnea clusters, it is time to get a recording pulse-oximeter, like, perhaps, this one: http://www.semedicalsupply.com/cms-50e.htm

-A way to make it default to downloading ALL data rather than just summary by default.

Paull56,

You can get detailed data every morning by going into the clincians menu and then to options. Click on Advanced menu.

When you are downloading don't click on summary data but make sure it is click on detailed data and you will get it.

Anne

Arizona-Willie wrote:I started with the Autoscan 5.7 from Resmed and it was barely adequate. At least you can export data from it and get a hard count on how many hypopneas you had and it would tell you when each one occurred although not how long it lasted. Apneas it also tells you how long the apnea lasted.

In my opinion the duration of hypopneas is important too. By their definition a hypopnea is a reduction in airflow up to 75% for more than 10 seconds. Well, having 3/4 of your air cut off is bound to result in a reduction in saturated oxygen just as does an apnea. In fact a short apnea probably does less damage than a long hypopnea but they just shrug hypops off like they aren't all that important.

Most people seem to have far more hypopneas than apneas and having their airflow significantly reduced by hypopneas would seem to be a bad thing.

However, no software I've seen tells you the length of the hypopneas.

I got the Rescan and was disappointed in it to say the least. Much of the functionality of the old Autoscan 5.7 is gone and all it has is some prettier graphs.

Recently I tested some Respirionics APAP machines and software and they give far more information .. especially with the Analyzer.

I've only been back on my S8 Elite cpap for a week but my numbers are double what they were on the APAP. But I am running it higher than I used to. Just double checked and this weeks numbers are slightly higher than on CPAP at a bit lower setting. I was running at 10.4 and this week has been at 11 and the numbers are somewhat higher so I will drop back some. But the APAP definitely cut the numbers in half or darn close to it. Not too bad even on CPAP but the lower the better.

Respironics certainly has the software edge. Resmed should fire their programmers. And whoever hired them.

Willy,

I am too new at this to worry about software. I read my results daily from my S8 Elite II and have posted a new topic in this forum today asking for help regarding the effectiveness of an S8 Elite II compared with an S8 AutoSet II. I can't get my AHI numbers down consistently or, perhaps more importantly, below 5 (except once) and I was wondering if the AutoSet II might just be more effective for me.

Any words or wisdom?

My two cents is not to worry too much about getting your AHI below 5 when using a ResMed machine. They are very aggressive in scoring flow limitations. The AI number is the more important number. It is worth it to tweak the pressure to get the AHI as low as you can, but it is good to understand that any other machine would report lower AHI numbers to you in scoring the same night of sleep. No machine can tell you your true AHI number without being able to factor in O2 levels in your blood and sleep arousals, so the numbers all machines give are actually estimates based solely on air movement.

Any data-capable machine can be used effectively for treatment. An auto is more convenient in that the mini-titration process is animated, but most who use an auto end up landing on a pressure they like and, more or less, sticking to it eventually.

It took me a few months to get to the point of getting software too. The nice thing about the ResMeds is the convenience of getting the most important info from the screen . The not-as-nice thing is that the software isn't as good as it could be. The software helps you see important detailed information about leak from your mask and helps you see when events occur, so in my opinion it is still worth it once you are ready.

Willie,
I agree with your opinion of ResScan. On a previous post, I called it herky, jerky and quirky. ResMed programmers should be ashamed of themselves. I'm surprised some computer geek hasn't written their own program for ResMed machines. They could make a fortune.

That being said, it still gives us some good info to keep trying to improve our therapy. Wed. night, I'm going to video myself to see what I am doing and how it corresponds to the graphs, especially in regards to leaks, apneas and hypopneas.
About every other night I have one or two one hour periods where I must be dancing on the ceiling. I'm a very sound sleeper. I go to sleep five minutes after putting on the mask and wake up 7-8 hours later so I don't know what's happening.

Ed

KengEsq wrote:
I am too new at this to worry about software. I read my results daily from my S8 Elite II and have posted a new topic in this forum today asking for help regarding the effectiveness of an S8 Elite II compared with an S8 AutoSet II. I can't get my AHI numbers down consistently or, perhaps more importantly, below 5 (except once) and I was wondering if the AutoSet II might just be more effective for me.

Any words or wisdom?

=================
Yes, I have lots of words but not much wisdom.

Seriously, it is possible to write down the results on the lcd screen every morning and enter them in a spreadsheet, but the software ( even Rescan ) goes much further. The graphs show what time events happened which can be instructive. And it makes it much easier to see trends.

My Elite is one of the first models of S8 so I don't know much about the new ones. Hopefully they are better. The first S8's are actually very good machines, no complaints with the machine ... just the software.

Many people believe they do better with an APAP machine because it can adjust to your pressure need as it changes throughout the night. When you change position such as from one side to another or side to tummy your pressure need may change some and the straight CPAP cannot deal with that. It seems that I got better results on APAP machines but my trial was of limited duration and I changed from one type of APAP to another 3 times during a month.

It takes the body a week or so to adjust to a change of machine and / or mask. But it was long enough to show me that, for me, it seems an auto is better.
But it's one of those things where what works for me may not work for someone else.

See I told you I had lots of words.

jnk

Where can I get the USB cable?

Thanks

Someone always has to be last. The lack of good software doesn't seem to be stopping the uninformed from jumping on the Resmed autoset II bandwagon, sometimes 3rd is good enough for the $$$. Jim Just not my $$$$.

dclempa wrote:jnk

Where can I get the USB cable?

Thanks

https://www.cpap.com/productpage/resmed ... chine.html