Non-invasive ventilation was among the earliest forms of respiratory support used in infants with respiratory failure in the early seventies. Its use in preterm infants, however, subsided to the use of nasal continuous positive airway pressure (N-CPAP). Continuous distending pressure provided by N-CPAP improves oxygenation by stabilising lung volume in infants with respiratory distress syndrome...

OBJECTIVES To evaluate the potential benefit of nasal continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) administration in pregnant women recognized to have hypertension early in pregnancy. METHODS This is a randomized study comparing the addition of nasal CPAP treatment to standard prenatal care to standard prenatal care alone in hypertensive women treated with alpha-methyl dopa during early pregnan...

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in infants has been shown to resolve frequently without a cortical arousal. It is unknown whether infants do not require arousal to terminate apneas or whether this is a consequence of the OSA. We studied the apnea and arousal patterns of eight infants with OSA before and after treatment with nasal continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP). These infants were age ...

BACKGROUND Noise exposure in neonatal units has long been suspected of being a cause of hearing loss associated with such units. The noise intensity to which the neonate is exposed varies with the type of ventilatory support used. Also, the post-nasal space is an enclosed cavity that is close to the inner ear and an area of turbulent and hence potentially noisy airflow. AIM To determine noise...

BACKGROUND Optimizing the measurement of Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) compliance and treatment efficacy is paramount for patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS). Compliance knowledge is currently based on data coming from CPAP machines; however algorithms and measured parameters vary from one machine to another. This study was conducted to clinically evaluate a novel...

Mills, Paul J., Brian P. Kennedy, Jose S. Loredo, Joel E. Dimsdale, and Michael G. Ziegler. Effects of nasal continuous positive airway pressure and oxygen supplementation on norepinephrine kinetics and cardiovascular responses in obstructive sleep apnea. J Appl Physiol 100: 343–348, 2006; doi:10.1152/japplphysiol.00494.2005.—Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is characterized by noradrenergic activ...

BACKGROUND Bronchopulmonary dysplasia is associated with ventilation and oxygen treatment. This randomized trial investigated whether nasal continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), rather than intubation and ventilation, shortly after birth would reduce the rate of death or bronchopulmonary dysplasia in very preterm infants. METHODS We randomly assigned 610 infants who were born at 25-to-2...