Esophageal Pressure monitoring

[slowdavesleep]

The feeding tubes we used were just plain tubing with a hole on the end, no guides and no weighted tip. If it was not swallowed it did not go down. You couldn't push it.

[labman2]

About 5 years ago, maybe more I set up esophageal catheter recording according to that article. It was a fun project. Of course the move to use it on patients got vetoed but I still got to play with the arterial blood pressure transducer and saline drip as well as catheterizing myself several times while testing the unit.

I remember it well! I believe I told you at the time if you keep catherizing yourself you were gonna go blind!

and you asking the female techs if you could stick this thing up their nose is a classic memory Dr. Frankenstein!

[linuxgeek]

Lately I hear about pharyngeal catheters in sleep. Anyone using those?

Do you mean the Millar catheters?

http://www.millarinstruments.com/products/products.php

[slowdavesleep]

Yes those are the ones. Those go under the tongue and measure effort? When I first heard about them it sounded like they went above the obstruction and measured flow by taking pressure in a fixed volume.

Has anyone done airway pressure at multiple points to try and calculate resistances and flows?

[sleepguy]

Someone had a multiple port cath that sampled at several points. Oscar - did Stanford have a hand in the development of that system? I can't remember.

[linuxgeek]

There may be some that go under the tongue. The ones that I've heard about are the ones used for supra-glottic pressure, or ones that go into the esophagus and have multiple pressure sensor points.

They're pretty expensive. What I'm curious is, if anyone has ever had one of these put in and if they are substantially more comfortable?

[RBonato]

There is a product from Europe - Germany I believe- called the ApneaGraph which has a catheter with multiple sensors for pressure and temperature. I believe it only works with their home recorder. The idea is you have the patient swallow the catheter, tape their nose and send them home to sleep. If that doesn't make the patients run screaming for the door I don't know what will. Oh, and yes, very pricey per test cost.

[somnonaut]

http://www.mra-medical.com/download/Apn ... 20vsn2.pdf

[somnonaut]

http://www.mra-medical.com/download/Paper%20VI.pdf

[RBonato]

Yup, thar she be, but I believe that UK group in the doc are distributors and the manufacturers are continental Europeans. Regardless, I bet the list price doesn't include an emesis basin!

[strawberri]

About 5 years ago, maybe more I set up esophageal catheter recording according to that article. It was a fun project. Of course the move to use it on patients got vetoed but I still got to play with the arterial blood pressure transducer and saline drip as well as catheterizing myself several times while testing the unit.

I remember it well! I believe I told you at the time if you keep catherizing yourself you were gonna go blind!

and you asking the female techs if you could stick this thing up their nose is a classic memory Dr. Frankenstein!

LOL!!! Excuse me while I wipe the Pepsi off my screen that I spit when reading this one!!!

[slowdavesleep]

supra-glottic pressure... if anyone has ever had one of these put in and if they are substantially more comfortable?

Never had one put in, I spoke with the doctor who uses them today. He said he went to train with an ENT to learn how to do "indirect laryngoscopy" in order to place them. You use a dental mirror to visually verify the sensor tip is right above the vocal cords. As far as comfort he claimed there is almost no discomfort, he said they only use lubricant on the catheters and do not use an anesthetic.