A number of questions have popped up specifically about Central Sleep Apnea (CSA) which is different from Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA).
What follows are different resources on the subject:
The following information is from an undated article from the website Sleepdisorders.about.com:
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A Much Rarer Type of Sleep Apnea
The most common type of sleep apnea is obstructive sleep apnea. However, another type does exist, and, although not nearly as prevalent, can be just as dangerous to the health.
Whereas obstructive sleep apnea, as the title suggests, relates to some sort of obstruction in the airways, including enlarged tonsils or adenoids, a deformed uvula or fatty tissue in the throat area, central sleep apnea is caused by a dysfunction in the thalamus area of the brain and the mechanism that controls your breathing.
Possible Causes of Central Sleep Apnea
Poliomyelitis
Encephalitis
meurodegnerative diseases
complications of surgery to the cervical spine
Radiation treatments on or near cervical spine
Stroke
Symptoms of central sleep apnea
Short cessation of breathing, especially during sleep, from a few times a night to hundreds of times.
Frequent awakenings.
Excessive daytime sleepiness.
Although common in obstructive sleep apnea, people with central sleep apnea don't usually have problems with snoring.
If other symptoms, including difficulty swallowing, voice changes of body weakness or numbness, this may indicate an underlying disease that is affecting the nervous system.
Diagnosis of central sleep apnea
Personal observation of symptoms.
Observations of bed mates.
Overnight polygraphic sleep study
MRI
Tests for underlying causes.
Complications and Risks of central sleep apnea
Excessive daytime sleepiness
Irritability
Lack of concentration
Sleep deprivation
Increased blood pressure
Heart disease
Treatment of central sleep apnea
Diagnosis and treatment of underlying cause
Treatment with the drugs acerazlamide and theophyllinr to stimulate the need to breathe.
In some cases, CPAP (continuous airway pressure} may be of value.
Other possible drug therapy: protriptolyne, klonopin.
Administration of low doses of oxygen.
Miscellaneous Information about Central Sleep Apnea
What is Cheyne-Stokes respiration?
Cheyne-stokes respiration is a cycle of breathing that involves very deep inhalation and exhalation followed by complete cessation of breathing.
What is mixed apnea?
Mixed apnea is a disorder that combines obstructive sleep apnea and central sleep apnea. There is both obstruction of the air passages and dysfunction of the brain.
What is Ondine's curse?
This is a form of central sleep apnea where people breath properly only when awake. When asleep, they breathe inadequately or, sometimes, not at all.
The following information was taken from the Washington Post, August 8, 2005, article by Naseem Sowti
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Study Delves Into Sleep Apnea
New research suggests that people who die in their sleep may have stopped breathing because of a long-term degeneration of certain cells in the brain.
Jack Feldman, a professor of neurobiology at the School of Medicine at the University of California at Los Angeles, said his team's findings could reveal the mechanism behind what is called "central" sleep apnea, usually diagnosed in people older than 65.
Sleep apnea refers to repetitive pauses in breathing during sleep.
In a paper published yesterday in the online edition of Nature Neuroscience, Feldman reported discovering a region of the brain stem in rats that consists of about 600 cells and that helps to control breathing rhythm. "We found that if we destroyed 80 percent of these cells, rats could not breathe normally," he said. He called this region preBotC.
"We speculate that what's happening is that humans may have a few thousand of these cells," Feldman said, and that these cells may be lost during a person's lifetime to the point that the brain cannot compensate for their loss and the person stops breathing as he sleeps. This could also be the case for patients who suffer from neurodegenerative diseases.
Leanne McKay, a postdoctoral fellow at UCLA and a member of Feldman's team, is studying the preBotC area in human brain tissue obtained from cadavers and plans to compare them to the brains of patients who died from a neurological disease such as Parkinson's or ALS -- Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.
Ultimately, Feldman hopes his lab's research will lead to the development of treatments for those who suffer from central sleep apnea.
"We all take breathing for granted," he said.
-- Naseem Sowti