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B3Bear wrote:Sorry to doubt you, but where exactly are you getting your information? I mean it is called a CPAP Helmet, so I can only assume that it delivers continuous positive airway pressure, which you seem to be implying it doesn't?

B3Bear wrote:I mean it is called a CPAP Helmet, so I can only assume that it delivers continuous positive airway pressure, which you seem to be implying it doesn't?

A Structural Mechanism from a Distance: Lung Volume Hypothesis

Obesity is associated with significant reduction of lung volume such as functional residual capacity (FRC) and expiratory residual volume due to diminished chest wall compliance, and total lung capacity and vital capacity are only impaired by extreme obesity.34 Whereas FRC reduction accounts for development of severe hypoxemia during obstructive events in obese OSA patients, lung volume decrease, per se, is indicated to contribute to pharyngeal airway obstruction. Hoffstein et al.35 hypothesized significant lung volume dependence of pharyngeal airway patency as an important factor in the pathophysiology of OSA based on the finding that obese OSA patients demonstrated significantly greater reduction of the smaller pharyngeal cross-sectional area in response to slow exhalation from total lung capacity to residual volume than obese non-OSA persons during wakefulness (54 ± 6 vs. 30 ± 5%).

A Structural Mechanism from a Distance: Lung Volume and OSA

Series et al.36 first reported an obese OSA patient who presented decreased frequency of obstructive events and improved sleep architecture in response to a 0.5-l increase of FRC by applying a constant negative extrathoracic pressure during sleep. Interestingly, the same investigators failed to support the lung volume hypothesis in nine mildly obese OSA patients (124% of ideal body weight) despite using the same protocol for changing FRC during sleep.37 Heinzer et al.,38 however, recently demonstrated that 0.77- and 1.3-l increases of FRC during sleep significantly decreased AHI from 62.3 events/h to 37.2 and 31.2 events/h, respectively, improving sleep quality in 12 more obese OSA patients than those studied by Series et al. (mean BMI = 34.9 kg/m2). Although the discrepant results from two clinical investigations including only 22 OSA patients do not provide conclusive evidence for the lung volume hypothesis, the difference in the severity of obesity between the studies is worthy of note, while the discrepancy is explainable by the difference in study protocols and populations. It is possible that the influence of lung volume is greater in more obese OSA patients, because Heinzer et al.38 found a trend toward a correlation between the extent of AHI reduction during lung inflation and the BMI (correlation coefficient = 0.53, P = 0.077, n = 12) in their study population.

LSAT wrote:

roster wrote: Why don't you ask your doctor for a prescription?

B3Bear wrote:Thanks so much for that info and clarifying that. I myself have been "broken" by my Mirage Quattro mask. It really came down to make it super tight to get a good seal. It takes 3 hours for the marks to go away but my AHI is 2.5.

LSAT wrote:The Quattro works best when it is NOT tight. The mask must 'float' on your face.
http://maskarrayed.wordpress.com/taming ... e-quattro/