A Sleep Apnea Patient Goes to APSS

Editor's Note: Each year Talk About Sleep President and CEO, James C. O'Brien, MD, FCCP, D'ABSM and Senior Vice President Tracy R. Nasca attend sleep meetings across the country to further their own sleep education and gather information to share with the membership of Talk About Sleep (TAS).

The Associated Professional Sleep Societies' (APSS) 18th Annual Meeting was held June 5-10, 2004 at the PENNSYLVANIA CONVENTION CENTER in downtown Philadelphia , Pennsylvania . The APSS is a collaborative effort of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society, and was established to provide a forum for the sharing of information among clinical, research, and educational interests in the field of sleep medicine.

This year, sleep activist Joseph Archibald was invited to attend this important annual meeting. A contributing staff writer to Talk About Sleep, Joe is also a member of the TAS chat host team. He is a successfully treated sleep apnea patient. His wife is a sleep technologist in the Philadelphia area and Joe also coordinates a local sleep apnea support group there. He is devoted to helping his fellow sleep apnea patient achieve successful therapeutic compliance. Joe was asked to attend and write about his experience there representing the sleep apnea patient.

This was my first time attending an APSS meeting, and it won't be my last I'm sure. It was total information overload. The meeting is actually a huge information/education/trade show. Anything and everything concerning sleep was there, researchers with their latest findings, educators, doctors, pharmaceutical companies, medical equipment manufacturers, the latest polysomnogrophy equipment and software, VPAP and interface manufacturers, various sleep societies, everyone and everything was represented. I can honestly say I was in seventh heaven. I felt like a kid in a candy store for three solid days.

There were classes and lectures running from dawn till dusk including many impromptu meetings in hallways. Both of my sleep doctors and their staff were there and I had a few discussions with other sleep doctors and researchers about compliance, interfaces and what my thoughts were concerning labs in general, lab design and patient comfort.

I spent a lot of time with the various interface and VPAP manufacturers. I was able to speak with sales representatives and also product research and development staff. I was fortunate to acquire some new interfaces, and saw prototypes and in few cases some of the first units off the assembly line.

The new ResMed Mirage Swift, their first nasal pillow device was shown and anticipated to be launched in August. The Mirage Swift is now available and this quality interface is already extremely popular with patients. Make sure to attend the upcoming special events chat featuring ResMed Product Manager Allen Erlich. He will introduce us and educate us on the features of Mirage Swift. Watch our chat calendar for the date, coming soon this fall.

The modified Breeze SleepGear was on display. Curious about the upgrade to the hose guide, I twisted and bent the new version and found it quite stable and a much needed improvement. The new vinyl support piece also has additional mounting locations for the headgear. I enjoyed talking with the Puritan Bennett staff about their 420 series flow generators as well as the new Breeze SleepGear.

The new Fisher & Paykel Healthcare full face mask, the FlexiFit HC431 was there and is now available to the public. It looked very nice and had some new innovations for a full face mask. The seal on the full face actually cradles the users chin. The new HC 405 & 407 Nasal masks were also displayed and I picked up samples. The 405 & 407 are probably some of the quietest interfaces on the market and diffuse the air well so you don't disturb a significant other. The 405 & 407 also fit very nicely and are lightweight - the 407 being the lightweight model and they come with both medium small and medium large cushions. My wife and I were invited to attend a dinner cruise sponsored by Fisher&Paykel Healthcare and so enjoyed the opportunity to further talk with this innovative company about their products.

Respironics was displaying their recently released ComfortLite nasal interface and full face mask, the ComfortFull. ComfortLite offers both a traditional mask and nasal pillow like interface in each box allowing the patient two interfaces for the price of one. It was a pleasure meeting the product managers and discussing the benefits of their patient products. For more information on the Comfort Series by Respironics, visit our eQuipment Fair pages. Recent special events moderated chats were held on these great masks so make sure to read the chat transcripts there.

I spent a few hours with Kevin and Kerry Rudolph owners of Hans Rudolph respiratory equipment. Hans Rudolph is a manufacturer of respiratory masks, valves and test equipment. The Hans Rudolph masks are very unique - both the full face Mask and the nasal mask are made as one piece of silicone and both are "dishwasher safe". Just think - you can now simply pop your mask in the dishwasher with the breakfast dishes and come home in the evening to a sparkly clean mask! All joking aside, these are very nice interfaces, well designed and durable. The Hans Rudolph full face Mask is designed with a chin seal.

In the nasal prong area of interfaces Innomed had their new FreeStyle interface and Viasis was showing their new Lyra which comes with 4 sizes of nasal prongs and has a double seal on the nasal prong. The patient can also use with two different sizes of prongs if nares sizes vary.

The APSS meeting was AMAZING and extremely informative. It has further sparked my interest in sleep. As patients, we should strive to be informed of the latest and greatest equipment available to us. Attending this sleep meeting has allowed me to do that and I look forward to sharing all that I learned with my local support group as well as the Monday evening sleep apnea chat at TalkAboutSleep.com.