Amsterdam, the Netherlands – Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHIA), a global leader in health technology, today announced results from a recent study, Comparison of Physiological Performance of Four Adaptive Servo Ventilation Devices in Patients with Complex Sleep Apnea in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, showing adaptive servo ventilation (ASV) is an effective treatment option for patients with complex sleep apnea (CompSA). This study compared the performance of four different ASV devices with different algorithms, including Philips DreamStation BiPAP autoSV, and the ASV device that was originally associated with greater mortality during a prior SERVE-HF trial published in 2015. The recent study revealed that certain physiological performances were quite different across the devices, which may explain the previously noted SERVE-HF trial results.
Sleep apnea affects millions of people worldwide, with many of these individuals living with CompSA – a sleep disorder that’s a combination of obstructive and central sleep apneas [1]. Despite the number of people impacted, the proper therapy is not always available or introduced as an option to patients with CompSA. In the prior SERVE-HF trial, it was suggested that ASV therapy was harmful to central sleep apnea patients with heart failure, with limited information suggesting that some of the patients in the trial may have received excessive minute ventilation that may have increased patient mortality [2]. This Philips-funded randomized controlled study suggests the mechanisms underlying the adverse effects of ASV may be secondary to excessive ventilation due to device-based effect rather than a class-effect [3].