Effect of continuous positive airway pressure treatment on pulmonary artery pressure in patients with isolated obstructive sleep apnea: a meta-analysis.

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) can occur in patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in the absence of cardiac or lung disease. Data on the development and severity of PH, and the effect of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy on pulmonary artery (PA) pressures in these patients have been inconsistent in the literature. We sought to determine whether CPAP therapy affects PA pressures in patients with isolated OSA in this meta-analysis.

Quantifying microsleep to help assess subjective sleepiness.

Background: The qualitative presence of microsleep during the multiple sleep latency test (MSLT) has been shown to correlate with an increased incidence of subjective complaints of sleepiness, tiredness, accidents/near accidents, and gap driving. However, there is no data on how to quantify microsleep and effectively incorporate it as a diagnostic tool in the measurement of sleepiness. The purpose of this study was to integrate microsleep with the MSLT score and determine if it improved the correlation between the MSLT and symptomatic sleepiness.

Application of continuous positive airway pressure in hypoxemic acute respiratory failure associated with diastolic dysfunction in pregnancy.

Diastolic heart failure with hypoxemia is a dangerous condition in pregnancy for both the mother and the fetus. Continuous positive airway pressure may help to decrease afterload and reduce venous return and ventricular filling, but its use in diastolic dysfunction has not yet been established. The authors report a case of a patient with pregnancy-induced hypertension and oligohydramnios who developed acute decompensated diastolic heart failure.

A comparison of nesiritide vs. epoprostenol in a patient with precapillary pulmonary hypertension due to scleroderma complicated by postcapillary pulmonary hypertension.

To the best of our knowledge, acute decompensated left-sided heart failure with preserved left ventricular ejection fraction in a patient with scleroderma has not been previously reported. We describe a patient with severe pulmonary hypertension due to limited scleroderma in whom nesiritide led to marked reductions in pulmonary arterial and capillary wedge pressure as well as resolution of symptoms and pulmonary edema. Subsequent epoprostenol use was associated with an increase in pulmonary capillary wedge pressure and a recurrence of pulmonary edema.