- Definition: Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP)
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CPAP is a treatment for sleep apnea, a disease characterized by the cessation of breathing multiple times throughout the night, with the patient rarely sleeping long enough at a time to get into deep or REM sleep, so that he does not feel rested upon awakening. Sleep apnea is characterized by daytime sleepiness, headaches, and loud snoring while sleeping. The danger of sleep apnea is twofold: 1) the patients are sleep deprived and can be as dangerous behind the wheel of a car or truck as someone who has been drinking; and 2) the cessation of breathing puts a strain on the heart and can trigger a cardiac event in someone who has cardiac disease. Diagnosis of sleep apnea is usually accomplished with an overnight sleep study in a sleep lab. For treatment with CPAP, while the patient sleeps he is connected to a blower by a hose and a face mask which goes over his nose and is held to his head with straps and is set to the minimum pressure needed to keep the patient's airway open. This is the fastest growing segment of the DME industry. It is estimated there are somewhere between 12 and 30 million undiagnosed sleep apnea patients in the U.S. today.
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