CSA occurs when breathing stops during sleep due to a lack of respiratory effort, rather than airway obstruction. It may be associated with heart failure, opioid use, or neurological conditions.
CSA is identified in sleep studies by the absence of thoracoabdominal effort during apnoea events. This can be as simple as automated analysis of CSA from a sleep polygraphy recorder such as the Stowood Black series, or as complex as a full PSG such as the Natus SDx which also looks at what sleep state the patient is in. Stowood’s diagnostic tools provide high-resolution data to support accurate classification of central versus obstructive events.
