Central Sleep Apnea : Physiologic Mechanisms to Inform Treatment
Status:
Recruiting
Trial end date:
2023-11-30
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Central sleep apnea (CSA) is common in patients with heart failure and those using opioid
analgesics. Unfortunately, effective treatment of central apnea remains elusive, pressure
therapy given the modest efficiency of positive airway pressure therapy. The focus of this
proposal is to identify mechanistic pathways to guide future therapeutic interventions for
central sleep apnea based on the strong premise that multi-modality therapy will normalize
respiration and hence mitigate adverse long-term consequences of CSA. The investigators'
proposed studies will test combination therapies, including positive airway pressure (PAP)
plus a pharmacological agent who have heart failure or are using opioid analgesics. The
investigators anticipate that findings will inform future clinical trials to improve care and
quality of life among Veterans suffering from central sleep apnea, which remains difficult to
treat using existing approaches.