A model of a snorer's upper airway.

In snorers, the physiologic decrease of postural muscle tone during sleep results in increased collapsibility of the upper airway. Measurement of nasal pressure changes with prongs is increasingly used to monitor flow kinetics through a collapsing upper airway. This report presents a mathematical model to predict nasal flow profile from three critical components that control upper airway patency during sleep. The model includes the respiratory pump drive, the stiffness of the pharyngeal soft tissues, and the dynamic support of the muscles surrounding the upper airway. Depending on these three components, the proposed model is able to reproduce the characteristic changes in flow profile that are clinically observed in snorers and non-snorers during sleep.

[1]  M. Khoo,et al.  A model-based evaluation of the single-breath CO2 ventilatory response test. , 1990, Journal of applied physiology.

[2]  Timothy J. Pedley,et al.  Modelling Flow and Oscillations in Collapsible Tubes , 1998 .

[3]  Stephen Wolfram,et al.  The Mathematica Book , 1996 .

[4]  D. Rapoport,et al.  Flow limitation as a noninvasive assessment of residual upper-airway resistance during continuous positive airway pressure therapy of obstructive sleep apnea. , 1994, American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine.

[5]  J. Strikwerda.  Finite Difference Schemes and Partial Differential Equations , 1989 .

[6]  R. Rodríguez-Roisín,et al.  Time-course of stepwise CPAP titration. Behavior of respiratory and neurological variables. , 1995, American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine.

[7]  Jens Timmer,et al.  Early detection of upper airway obstructions by analysis of acoustical respiratory input impedance , 1999, Biological Cybernetics.

[8]  Timothy J. Pedley,et al.  LARGE POST-BUCKLING DEFORMATIONS OF CYLINDRICAL SHELLS CONVEYING VISCOUS FLOW , 1996 .

[9]  Timothy J. Pedley,et al.  A separated-flow model for collapsible-tube oscillations , 1985, Journal of Fluid Mechanics.

[10]  K. Parker,et al.  A mathematical model of flow through a collapsible tube--I. Model and steady flow results. , 1989, Journal of biomechanics.

[11]  C. Bertram,et al.  A study of the bifurcation behaviour of a model of flow through a collapsible tube. , 1996, Bulletin of mathematical biology.

[12]  Lixi Huang,et al.  Biomechanics of snoring. , 1995, Endeavour.

[13]  Matthias Heil,et al.  Stokes flow in collapsible tubes: computation and experiment , 1997, Journal of Fluid Mechanics.

[14]  W A Whitelaw,et al.  Interaction of cross-sectional area, driving pressure, and airflow of passive velopharynx. , 1997, Journal of applied physiology.

[15]  Tero Aittokallio,et al.  Classification of Nasal Inspiratory Flow Shapes by Attributed Finite Automata , 1999, Comput. Biomed. Res..

[16]  L. Huang,et al.  Neuromechanical interaction in human snoring and upper airway obstruction. , 1999, Journal of applied physiology.

[17]  P. L. Smith,et al.  Upper airway pressure-flow relationships in obstructive sleep apnea. , 1988, Journal of applied physiology.

[18]  D. Rapoport,et al.  Detection of flow limitation with a nasal cannula/pressure transducer system. , 1998, American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine.

[19]  N Gavriely,et al.  Theory and measurements of snores. , 1993, Journal of applied physiology.

[20]  H. Gautier,et al.  Time course of phrenic activity and respiratory pressures during airway occlusion in cats. , 1981, Journal of applied physiology: respiratory, environmental and exercise physiology.

[21]  C D Bertram,et al.  A mathematical model of unsteady collapsible tube behaviour. , 1982, Journal of Biomechanics.