New Treatment for OSA

A new treatment for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) sufferers is more comfortable and increases compliance.

Called C-Flex, the new treatment takes some of the work out of exhalation, thereby offering a way to provide a more comfortable treatment for OSA than traditional continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP). In a study of 60 CPAP users, 98% said C-Flex was comfortable. In another study, 90% of patients indicated that C-Flex was a very comfortable method of treatment and that they would choose the device over conventional CPAP. Some patients reported that they sleep for longer periods of time before awakening with C-Flex.

"One of the primary obstacles to OSA patients adhering to therapy is that they often find it difficult to exhale against the positive airway pressure of the CPAP machine,” said Jay Vreeland, product manager, sleep therapy, Respironics (Murrysville, PA, USA), which developed C-Flex. "This can result in frequent awakenings during the night or inadvertent mask removal, which hinders the patient from receiving the full benefit of CPAP therapy.”

C-Flex also encourages compliance. "Compliance levels have increased both from patients who were using standard CPAP therapy and switched to C-Flex as well as newly diagnosed patients who've been placed right on C-Flex,” noted Carol O'Korn, lead sleep technologist, The Washington Hospital (Washington, PA, USA).




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