Acute Medicine | Respiratory | Breathlessness: The difference between BiPAP and CPAP

The Difference between BiPAP and CPAP
Session Overview
Description
This session discusses the principle differences between bi-level positive airways pressure (BiPAP) and continuous positive airways pressure (CPAP), and provides a brief summary as to how they work and when to use them.

Learning Objectives
By the end of this session you will be able to:

• Describe the difference between CPAP and BiPAP and state when to use them

In this session:

• pA = alveolar pressure
• pa = arterial pressure

Type 1 respiratory failure is failure of oxygenation (paO2 < 8 kPa).

Type 2 respiratory failure (paCO2 > 6 kPa) is a failure of ventilation, i.e. a failure of breathing, which is usually due to fatigue in the acute setting.

Therefore, measures to improve oxygenation are considered respiratory support and measures to reduce CO2 are ventilatory support.