Choose Location

We provide care in three easily-accessible locations across the Rio Grande Valley.

Weslaco

1604 East 8th St., Suite A
Weslaco, TX
Phone: (956) 447-5557

McAllen

5300 North McColl Rd., Suite 100
McAllen, TX
Phone: (956) 630-1000

Mission

1022 E. Griffin Pkwy.
Mission, TX 78572
Phone: (956) 833-6000

Sleep

Auto-Titrating Pap (APAP)

APAP is a treatment for conditions such as obstructive sleep apnea that cause issues such as apnea, hypopnea, snoring, and limited airflow during sleep. This approach automatically adjusts pressure throughout sleep to accommodate changing sleep positions and sleep stages. The goal of APAP treatment is to deliver relief and maintain an open airway in response to airway events requiring intervention.

How Do You Know If You Need APAP?

Our accredited sites in Weslaco and McAllen can help you determine whether you have a condition that requires the use of APAP. At our modern, safe, and secure sleep labs, our sleep specialists will monitor your sleep. The sleep study will include recording your brain waves, eye movements, muscle activity, breathing effort and airflow, blood oxygen level, heart rate and rhythm, the duration of your stages of sleep, body positions, and movements of your arms and legs while sleeping. Once your sleep study is complete and has been scored, your Sleep Specialist will analyze the results to determine whether you require treatment, such as APAP, for a sleep disorder.

APAP Treatment

During APAP treatment, the clinician typically sets upper and lower pressure limits, often on the basis of a prior failed CPAP/BiLevel PAP (BPAP) titration or the patient’s history of CPAP/BPAP use. Auto-BPAP devices automatically detect respiratory events and adjust the delivered IPAP and EPAP to maintain an open airway. If the APAP unit does not detect obstructive respiratory events, the device lowers the pressure gradually until events recur, at which time the pressure increases again.

That is, the APAP titration device is constantly searching for the lowest effective pressure in any circumstance. The highest pressure is usually needed during supine REM sleep. The device may also be used for unattended auto titration in the home sleep environment to find an optimal pressure for chronic CPAP treatment.

The main disadvantages of unattended APAP titrations performed in the home sleep environment come from the fact that these devices have no method of determining whether the respiratory effort is present during an apnea. Newer APAP devices have (as yet unproven) features designed to address this limitation. Your sleep specialist can help you determine the best treatment, and device, for your sleep issues.