Proposed nasopharyngoscope to determine volume of upper respiratory airway for OSA

• Main Author: Wong, Jeanne Yun Lei.
• Other Authors: Ong Lin Seng
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2009
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Bioengineering
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/16161
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Apnea is a sleep disorder characterized by breathing pauses, lasting ten seconds or more. Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) is the most common form of apnea. It is defined by a physical block to air-intake despite respiratory effort, causing blood oxygen to fall. The brain then signals the sleeping individual to rouse slightly, opens the upper airway with usually a snort or a gasp, then drifts back to sleep almost immediately. However, these apneas repeat many times during sleep and the fragmented sleep results in excessive daytime sleepiness. This can develop into more serious conditions like heart disease, high blood pressure, sexual dysfunction, and learning or memory problems. In Singapore, OSA affects 15% of the Singapore population with men being 2.0 to 3.7 times more susceptible than woman.