DETECTION OF CENTRAL APNEAS

摘要

The use of diagnostic processing of signals derived from a respiratory analysis mattress (2) to determine the occurence of central apneas is disclosed. A plurality of sensor strips (5) supply electrical signals arising from localised displacement by a patient's body. The individual body effort (displacement) signals are converted into digital form and provided to a processor (104). The occurence of a central apnea is determined by a relative dimunition of the digitised body effort signals. In one form, dimunition is determined by a reduction in amplitude in excess of a predetermined threshold amount. Alternatively, dimunition is determined by forming a ratio of a reference average movement effort value and a contemporaneous movement effort value, and comparing the ratio against a threshold reference value. Advantageously, a further condition can be that there is also a predominant cyclic signal within the range of respiratory origin present.