Patient Interface

Central element in successful therapy

Masks are the most problematic part of therapy. After all, they touch and cover a large part of the patient‘s face, one of the most sensitive areas of the body, for several hours during the day or night. If the mask doesn‘t fit well, it may cause pressure points on the face or it may leak. Those problems could prompt the patient to reject the mask and thus jeopardize the success of his therapy.

Despite these concerns, masks were until recently just a side issue in the area of ventilation. Increasingly, however, they have been moving toward the center of attention as many patients have evidently realized that the success of therapy depends in large part on the mask.

The mask is the interface between man and machine and the way to get the air from the therapy device via a hose into the patient‘s airways. The requirements for ventilation masks – most of which are nasal or full-face masks – are enormously high. For one thing, they should be comfortable and skin-friendly. At the same time they should sit snugly on all different face types so that they can‘t slip out of place during the night and cause leaks. But they shouldn‘t be too tight or else they‘ll leave painful pressure points behind. Beyond that, the masks have to be able to withstand high therapy pressures and provide a way for patients to exhale without too much effort. They also have to be quiet and easy to use.

You can get an overview of the concept patient interface in our productline presentation.