MURRYSVILLE, PA – Pennsylvania-based giant Philips Respironics has what company officials are calling the industry’s first and only gel pillows mask, which brings the comfort and sealing power of gel to nasal pillows. The Nuance mask is the latest in a series of new masks from Philips (Booth #706 at Medtrade Spring this year, held from March 10-12 in Las Vegas—Click Here to Register).
“With its sleek design and better seal, Nuance represents the new choice for better sleep therapy for clinicians, home care providers and patients,” says John Frank, senior vice president, general manager, Sleep and Respiratory Care, Philips Home Healthcare Solutions. “It is part of our comprehensive portfolio of masks and services designed to address some of the challenges facing home care providers today.”
Clinicians and providers have the ability to provide a high performance minimal contact mask for greater patient satisfaction. Nuance features an all-fabric frame and headgear that enhances patient comfort and causes fewer red marks. Nuance Pro’s gel-padded frame holds the mask in place during sleep and reduces the need for re-adjustment.
Over at InnoMed Technologies Inc, a new full face mask called the Aspen made its debut with designers touting the product as compact, quiet, lightweight, and affordable—all with a forehead pad featuring a SoftTouch Wrap.
“With competitive bidding and declining reimbursement rates, we felt it was important to round out our product portfolio as a company to remain competitive with companies such as ResMed, Fisher & Paykel Healthcare, and Philips Respironics,” states Ron Richard, CEO of InnoMed Technologies.
Better Sleep for More Birdies?
In a sports-obsessed American culture, linking better sleep to sports performance could well open up new markets among coaches and athletes. A new study bolsters the possibility with findings that suggest that treating obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) with CPAP improves golf performance in middle-aged men.
Results show that up to six months of treatment with CPAP therapy was associated with significant improvements in self-reported excessive daytime sleepiness and sleep-related quality of life. Participants treated with CPAP therapy also experienced a significant drop of 11% in their average handicap index, a standardized formula that estimates a golfer’s skill level.
Among the more skilled golfers who had a baseline handicap index of 12 or less, the average handicap index dropped by 31.5%. Participants attributed their enhanced performance to factors such as improved concentration, endurance, and decision making.
“The degree of improvement was most substantial in the better golfers who have done a superior job of managing the technical and mechanical aspects of golf,” said principal investigator and lead author Dr.
Marc Benton, senior partner at Atlantic Sleep & Pulmonary Associates and medical director of SleepWell Centers of NJ, Madison, N.J. “With the cognitive enhancement afforded by successful treatment of their sleep apnea, they saw measurable improvement early and more significantly than those who were less skilled.”
The study results appear in the Dec 15 issue of the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, which is published by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Objective data reporting shows that average utilization of CPAP therapy by participants in the treatment group was 6.3 hours per night for 91.4% of the nights, which is a much higher compliance rate than is typically reported. The results suggest that the potential for improved golf performance may have played a motivational role in increasing treatment compliance.
“An important aspect of providing high quality, patient-centered care is to identify the unique factors that motivate individual patients to comply with treatment,” said American Academy of Sleep Medicine President Dr. M. Safwan Badr. “Effectively treating sleep apnea with CPAP therapy can yield numerous physical, cognitive and emotional benefits, all of which can be great motivators for patients when they begin treatment.”