Adaptive servoventilation improves cardiac function and respiratory stability

Oldenburg O, Bitter T, Lehmann R, et al. Adaptive servoventilation improves cardiac function and respiratory stability. Clinical Research in Cardiology. 2011;100(2):107-115.Cheyne-Stokes respiration (CSR) in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) is of major prognostic impact and expresses respiratory instability. Other parameters are daytime pCO(2), VE/VCO2-slope during exercise, exertional oscillatory ventilation (EOV), and increased sensitivity of central CO2 receptors. Adaptive servoventilation (ASV) was introduced to specifically treat CSR in CHF. Aim of this study was to investigate ASV effects on CSR, cardiac function, and respiratory stability. A total of 105 patients with CHF (NYHA >= II, left ventricular ejection fraction (EF) = 15/h) met inclusion criteria. According to adherence to ASV treatment (follow-up of 6.7 +/- 3.2 months) this group was divided into controls (rejection of ASV treatment or usage <50% of nights possible and/or