Differences between an oxygen concentrator and a CPAP machine
If you need both an oxygen concentrator and a continuous positive airway pressure (or CPAP) machine, you might be wondering: What is the difference? While these therapies seem similar and sometimes treat the same disease, they are different in many ways.
What is an Oxygen Concentrator?
An oxygen concentrator is a standalone or portable device that draws in ambient air, filters out the nitrogen, and expels the remaining oxygen as a concentrated gas. The primary function of an oxygen concentrator is to deliver more oxygen than what is available in the ambient air.
The air we breathe is made up of 21% oxygen and 79% nitrogen, with some trace gases mixed in. In certain disease states such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) or pulmonary fibrosis, the body requires more oxygen than what is available in the ambient air. So to meet that requirement, an oxygen concentrator creates a concentrated source of almost pure oxygen to raise the percentage of ambient oxygen to anywhere from 87%–100% oxygen depending on the manufacturer. This concentrated oxygen is then breathed in via a nasal cannula or oxygen mask to increase the amount of oxygen in the body. Depending on your needs, this concentrated oxygen can be delivered in a continuous flow (more oxygen) or as intermittent, or pulse-dose, flow (less oxygen).
A CPAP machine is a standalone device that compresses ambient air to generate pressure for therapeutic purposes. It is widely used at home to treat obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), but it can also be used in emergency settings in a hospital by a respiratory therapist.
With OSA, the primary problem is that the throat collapses while sleeping, causing the patient to snore. While snoring is often seen as a humorous act in movies, this repeated collapsing of the throat actually obstructs airflow into the lungs, which can eventually lead to dangerously low oxygen levels in the blood.
There are 2 main differences between an oxygen concentrator and a CPAP machine :
- The concentration of oxygen in the airflow
- The amount of pressure flowing through the tubing
