[Nasal continuous positive airway pressure and noninvasive positive ventilation in the treatment of sleep apnea/hypopnea syndrome].

ABSTRACT

The main medical treatment of moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea/hypopnea syndrome is nasal continuous positive airway pressure(nCPAP). When compliance of the patient is low due to nasal or oral dryness, heated humidifier is added to nCPAP. In Japan frequent complaints such as nasal cold and dryness were observed in winter because of infrequent air conditioning in the sleeping room. In the case of dyspnea using nCPAP, bilevel PAP or auto CPAP is recommended. We treated 384 patients with nCPAP and 24% of the patients were added heated humidifier. Auto CPAP and bilevel PAP was administered in 10% and 6% of the patients indicated for PAP treatment, respectively.