The treatment of sleep apnoea, a potentially serious sleep disorder that interrupts normal breathing, has been further improved thanks to the purchase of new equipment costing £5,760 by the Friends of St Mary’s Hospital.
People with untreated sleep apnoea stop breathing repeatedly during their sleep, sometimes hundreds of times. As a result, the brain and the rest of the body may get insufficient oxygen. This can have a big impact on the quality of life and increase the risk of developing certain conditions, including high blood pressure, stroke, heart attack, or type 2 diabetes.
With the Friends’ purchase, the Respiratory Suite at St Mary’s Hospital now has 5 items of monitoring equipment, all in much demand.
Patients can take the equipment home with them, where they apply disposable adhesive electrodes to various parts of their body when they go to bed.
Tracy Jones, Lead Physiologist, says:
“All this specialist equipment makes a huge difference to diagnosis and quality of life, as well as cutting down on the use of NHS beds.
“Sufferers can report being nagged at by their partners, forcing them to sleep in another room or even deciding to leave them! The condition can be that intolerable.”
