CPAP News Letter - Issue: 3



Greetings to all,

cpap.com went to the Atlanta Medtrade show recently to see the latest in CPAP and BiPAP equipment, much of it not yet available for purchase. Here is some of the equipment related news we found in rough order of significance.

1) Respironics went public with "C-Flex", a method of providing CPAP therapy with a much lower perceived exhalation effort. I tried it at 5 cm, 10 cm, and 18 cm and felt like I was on a BiPAP. The difference between traditional CPAP and C-Flex was amazing. C-Flex is very much more comfortable at any pressure. Respironics would not talk about exactly what they were doing to gain this great increase in comfort. The system I used was hooked up to pressure, flow, and tidal volume. It was apparent that C-Flex drops the pressure for a very short time immediately upon the users switch from inhalation to exhalation. This allows the chest muscles to gain exhalation momentum, making the exhalation almost effortless. The version I tested had three levels of C-Flex available for users selection. All worked great with the strongest setting becoming so pronounced at 18 cm setting that it actually felt like the exhalation pressure dropped to zero. Actual measured drop over a second was only 1 cm.

C-Flex will be standard on Respironic Remstar Pro machines built roughly a month from now. Respironics is not seeking a new reimbursement code. Standard prescriptions for CPAP will allow the holder to buy a C-Flex machine.

I am convinced that C-Flex will soon make fixed pressure CPAPs obsolete. Anyone who has had an opportunity to breath on standard CPAP vs C-Flex is almost sure to strongly prefer C-Flex, although Auto CPAPs may be an exception until C-Flex is introduced in that category. Respironics has some strong indications that users of C-Flex wake less often during use as compared to traditional CPAP users. Sleep quality is therefore much improved.

2) Puritan Bennett released a waist belt holding a very portable, 8 hour CPAP/BiPAP battery. It can be plugged into the wall to charge. It weights about 10 pounds. We have ordered the unit for testing.

3) Puritan Bennett still does not have FDA approval for their little CPAP that fits easily into a brief case. They expect approval very shortly. We will put it on our website as soon as it is available.

4) Resmed new Mirage Vista Mask has a standard and deep bridge version. The Shallow cushion is being worked on but is not yet released.

5) Resmed released the S7 Lightweight CPAP. It looks and sounds just like the S7 Spirit and Elite with intergrated humidifier but trades features for lower cost. Resmed will continue to make the S6 Lightweight for the time being, but the S6 Elite is now out of production as is the Autoset-T.

6) Resmed has made two changes to the H2i Heated humidifier. The chamber side latches have retention keepers and the "bridge" inside the chamber is reported to stay in place better. Resmed is working on a third version that does away with the bridge entirely and uses the same latching technique found on the original Humidaire. This version is reportedly due by years end.

7) The super small Puritan Bennett Knightstar 330 non-invasive ventilator will not be joined by a similar unit without a rate anytime soon. This is a real disappointment to fans of this super small machine.

8) Puritan Bennett's Nasal Pillow system (the Breeze) will go off patent in 18 months. Numerous companies are working on delivery systems utilizing the basic technique. We expect that some really nice interface systems will be available at that time.

9) Innomed is working on making the Nasal Aire prongs softer and the area between the prongs more malable. They expect to have a total of nine sizes available within six months.

As always, if you have any questions or comments, we welcome your calls or emails.