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Cardiac Arrest
Sudden cessation of the heart beat.
Cardiovascular
Pertaining to blood vessels and the heart
Cataplexy
Sudden, dramatic decrement in muscle tone and loss of deep reflexes that leads to muscle weakness, paralysis, or postural collapse. Usually caused by outburst of emotion: laughter, startle, or sudden physical exercise; one of the tetrad of symptoms of narcolepsy.
Central apnea
Absence of airflow and inspiratory effort; apnea caused by irregularity in the brain's control of breathing.
Central Nervous System (CNS)
Brain and spinal cord.
Cheyne-Stokes respiration
Breathing pattern typified by regular "crescendo-decrescendo" or waxing and waning fluctuations in respiratory rate and tidal volume.
Chronotherapy
Treatment for circadian rhythm sleep disorder by systemically changing sleeping and waking times to reset the biological clock.
Circadian rhythm
Innate, daily, fluctuation of behavioral and physiological functions, including sleep waking, generally tied to the 24 hour day-night cycle but sometimes to a different (e.g., 23 or 25 hour) periodicity when light/dark and other time cues are removed.
Compliance
Adhering to or conforming with a regimen of treatment such as CPAP
CPAP - Continuous Positive Airway Pressure
The device used to treat sleep apnea by sending positive airway pressure at a constant, continuous pressure to help keep an open airway, allowing the patient to breathe normally through his/her nose and airway
CPAP Pressure
Pressure needed to maintain an open airway in a sleep apnea patient treated with CPAP, expressed in centimeters of water (cm H20). The positive pressure can range from 520 cm H20. Different patients require different pressures. The value is determined in a CPAP titration study.
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