Colin Sullivan is an Australian physician, professor, and inventor known for his invention of the nasal Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) circuit, made of continuous flow machine and vented nasal mask, in June 1980.
Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) is a form of positive airway pressure ventilator, which applies mild air pressure on a continuous basis. It keeps the airways continuously open in people who are able to breathe spontaneously on their own, but need help keeping their airway unobstructed.
It is an alternative to positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP). Both modalities stent the lungs' alveoli open and thus recruit more of the lung's surface area for ventilation, but, while PEEP refers to devices that impose positive pressure only at the end of the exhalation, CPAP devices apply continuous positive airway pressure throughout the breathing cycle.
Thus, the ventilator itself does not cycle during CPAP, no additional pressure above the level of CPAP is provided, and patients must initiate all of their breaths.
Sullivan’s development of the nasal CPAP was a product of his long-term interest in the upper respiratory airway and its role in SIDS (aka crib death or cot death). Prior to the invention of the nasal CPAP machine sleep apnea was often treated with radical measures such as tracheotomy.
According to en.wikipedia
