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Updated: Nov 23, 2025

Increasing Pulmonary Artery Pulsatile Flow Improves Hypoxic Pulmonary Hypertension in Piglets
Published on: May 11, 2015
Average volume-assured pressure support vs conventional bilevel pressure support in pediatric nocturnal
Vishal Saddi1,2, Ganesh Thambipillay1,2, Sonia Pithers1
1Department of Sleep Medicine, Sydney Children's Hospital, Randwick, New South Wales, Australia.
Study Objectives:
Average volume-assured pressure support (AVAPS) is a modality of noninvasive ventilation that provides a targeted tidal volume by automatically adjusting the inspiratory pressure support within a set range. Pediatric studies evaluating the efficacy of AVAPS in treating nocturnal hypoventilation are confined to case reports. The aim of this study was to compare AVAPS to conventional bilevel positive airway pressure (BPAP) support in improving hypercarbia in a cohort of pediatric patients with nocturnal hypoventilation.
Methods:
Retrospective review of patient records at an established tertiary pediatric sleep laboratory over a 6-year period. Ventilatory and sleep study parameters from AVAPS and conventional BPAP titration studies were compared. AVAPS was used only if hypoventilation was not controlled using conventional BPAP. Inspiratory pressures, tidal volumes, and adherence were downloaded on final titrated ventilatory settings. Comparisons were made using paired t test.
Results:
A total of 19 patients (11 boys, 8 girls; median age 10.5 years, range 1 to 20 years) were identified. Diagnoses included neuromuscular disease (n = 9), obstructive hypoventilation (n = 5), parenchymal lung disease (n = 4), and congenital central hypoventilation syndrome (n = 2). AVAPS demonstrated significant improvement in peak (P = .009) and mean (P = .001). Transcutaneous CO₂ parameters compared to conventional bilevel. Oxygenation on AVAPS showed positive trend but did not reach statistical significance. AVAPS delivered higher tidal volumes (P = .04) using similar pressures. There was no statistically significant difference in obstructive apnea-hypopnea index, respiratory arousal index, sleep efficiency, and adherence between AVAPS and conventional BPAP.
Conclusions:
AVAPS was an effective alternative to conventional BPAP in improving hypercarbia in our selective cohort of pediatric patients. Prospective, longitudinal studies are needed to evaluate the benefits of AVAPS feature in the pediatric population.
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