Determining patency of airways from complex admittance by applying oscillating air flow for apnoea / apnea patients

摘要

Disclosed is an apparatus for determining the degree of patency of the airway of a patient. The apparatus includes an airflow generator (34) adapted to apply an oscillatory pressure waveform of known frequency and magnitude to the patient's airway. The apparatus also includes an arrangement for determining the complex admittance of respiratory air flow from the patient. The apparatus further includes a controlling device (62) configured to determine the degree of patency as the deviation of the complex admittance from the centroid of a patency region.