What is Transient Nocturnal Desaturation?

Transient Nocturnal Desaturation
Transient Nocturnal Desaturation is defined as a temporary drop in oxygen levels during sleep. A healthy lung has between 95% and 100% of oxygen saturation levels. Oxygen saturation is the level of oxygen in your blood. If this level drops at least 4% for five or more minutes during your sleep, you can be diagnosed with Transient Nocturnal Desaturation. Oxygen acts as fuel for your major organs and other tissues, without it your organs cannot function properly. This is very common in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, otherwise known as COPD.

Causes
Causes of Nocturnal Desaturation include hypoventilation and ventilation/perfusion mismatch. Hypoventilation is a slowing of breath during sleep. This can lead to too little oxygen or too much carbon dioxide in the bloodstream. Ventilation/perfusion mismatch occurs when the timing of your breathing is mismatched with the timing of your blood circulating through your lungs. This can also cause a lack of oxygen in your bloodstream, and thus lead to Transient Nocturnal Desaturation. There has also been research that suggests obesity can increase the risk and severity of any sleep-related breathing disorder.

Treatment
Long-term oxygen therapy or nocturnal oxygen therapy are both options to treat Transient Nocturnal Desaturation. Oxygen therapy is an oxygen supplement that provides you with extra oxygen. Nocturnal oxygen therapy is oxygen therapy during sleep. Either of these methods can be achieved with an oxygen concentrator. The concentrator will draw in fresh air, compress the air, segregate Nitrogen from it, and put out purified oxygen through the nasal cannula.