Treatment of central and obstructive sleep apnea in stable heart failure patients with auto-servo ventilation reduces sleep fragmentation - A randomized controlled trial

Background: It is of debate, whether treatment of central sleep apnea (SA) reduces sleep fragmentation. Therefore, we tested, whether auto-servo ventilation (ASV, BiPAP-ASV, Philips Respironics) reduces sleep fragmentation in heart failure (HF) patients with severe central or obstructive SA. Methods: 42 patients with HF (age 66±9y, LVEF <40%) and SDB (apnea-hypopnea index, AHI 48±19/h, 51% central SA) were randomized to either ASV (n=21) or...