BPAP refers to a medical machine that means bilevel positive airway pressure. A BPAP is a breathing apparatus used by patients to have more air enter the lungs.

BPAP was created back in the 1990s which is a spinoff of a CPAP machine or a continuous positive airway pressure machine. There is a difference between a CPAP and a BPAP. A BPAP machine makes use of different level of air pressure. The CPAP, on the other hand, uses a constant pressure to fill the lungs with more air.

Both machines are often utilized by patients who are suffering from breathing problems especially for those who have apnea.

How BPAP works

This machine works by letting the air via the mask at a set pressure each for exhaling and inhaling. This means that a person can adapt to this breathing mask since the air pressure has been set in different pressure level.

There are many patients who benefit from the use of BPAP. Those who suffer from a congestive heart failure, for example, also benefit by using this breathing machine.

BPAP is also used as an alternative to intubation (when a tube is inserted in the mouth of the patient) since there are patients who cannot have the intubation.

Medical practitioners also let patients whose lungs have collapsed use the BPAP machine since these patients’ air sacs have lost the ability to push air inside the lungs.

Doctors first perform some diagnostic exams to determine whether a patient should use a BPAP machine or not.

For one, doctors use the respiratory test where the patients will have to breathe into a machine in order to test his or her lung capacity.

Another exam is the FVC or the forced vital capacity where medical providers examine and measure the depth of a person’s breath.