Pressure pulse?

I've started to see something called a "pressure pulse" appear in SH from time to time. Can anyone tell me just what that is, and where does it fit in the general scheme of things with CAs, OAs, etc? Is it something to be concerned about? Evidently last night I had three of them.

The Pressure Pulse is a small burst of pressure that the machine uses when it's trying to determine whether an apnea is obstructive or central (clear Airway).

By analyzing the flow response to device initiated pressure pulses during an apnea, the machine is able to distinguish an obstructed airway apnea from a clear airway apnea.

Not something to be concerned about at all.
It's just the machine deciding it needs a little help figuring out if what it senses is related to open or closed airway...central vs obstructive in nature.
Tiny puff of air that won't even show up on the pressure line as an increase in pressure because it's so brief and small.
Pressure pulses don't always go along with flagged events either. I have seen them with no flagged event because the event was maybe 9 seconds and didn't last long enough to meet the 10 second minimum duration.

PR System one machines (I don't know about ResMed and others) tries to differentiate between an obstructive apnea and what they call a clear airway apnea. We refer to those as central apneas. In both cases, the air flow ceases. After a short period of time with no air flow, the PR machine creates a short duration increase in pressure referred to as a pressure pulse. If the machine detects an increase in pressure as a result, it determines that the airway is closed, i.e. obstructive apnea. If no corresponding increase is detected, it concludes that a clear airway apnea has occurred.

The difference exists because the air volume in the hose and mask is very much smaller than the air volume including your lungs. Depending on your size, the lung volume will be in multiples of liters while that of the hose/mask will be a fraction of one liter. A small and temporary increase in pressure has a much greater effect on the smaller volume so the two conditions are distinguishable.

Edit: if you want to generate one, just mask up, turn on the machine, breathe normally for a minute or two, and then just stop breathing for 20 seconds or so. Some of the folks here are very sensitive and don't like the feeling. I'm not so sensitive so I can't feel them when they are happening. In any event, as Pugsy says, occasional pressure pulses are likely of no significance at all. We all stop breathing now and then at night when we roll over, etc.

Thanks for the help everybody.

At least I don't have something new to think or worry about.