Sleep Apnea

• Sleep apnea is a disorder in which a person stops breathing periodically through the night. People may have sleep apnea their entire lives or develop it later. The problem with treating sleep apnea is that the person is asleep when the breathing lapse occurs. Treatment of sleep apnea is geared toward making sure the patient breathes without breaks.
  
  

Machine Technology

• The CPAP and BiPAP are part of the newer technologies used to treat sleep apnea. The patient puts on a face mask, and a machine forces air into the mask throughout the night. The patient is not receiving oxygen from a tank; rather, the machine simply cycles the room's air and forces it into the mask. The patient sets a pressure for the air to be pushed through the mask. The forced air comes out at that pressure while the machine is on. If the patient stops breathing, the pressurized air forces the patient to breathe.
  
  

BiPAP

• The BiPAP machine in particular has two pressure settings. The patient can set a pressure for inhaling (IPAP), which is the pressure of the forced air coming into the mask. Patients also can set a pressure for exhaling, called EPAP, which means that the patient needs to exhale at a lower rate than the machine forces air into the mask. The BiPAP works well for people who need a high inhalation pressure or who have lung problems that hinder exhalation.
  
  

Pressure Support

• The difference between the inhalation and exhalation pressures is called the pressure support. For patients with sleep apnea, this pressure support acts as a relief valve, allowing them the benefit of high-pressure air to prevent apneas while also breathing out at a normal rate. Some machines also have auto-adjusting features that will change the pressure support based on indicators from the patient's breathing.