Sleep Apnea Diagnosis
In-Lab Sleep Study
There are various methods to obtain diagnosis. Polysomnography (PSG) is the most complete form of testing. This usually requires at least 1 night stay in the hospital. A sleep technologist will place electrode sensors to monitor your brain activity, oxygen level, eye and limb movements, muscle tone, and heart rate. Nasal cannula and belts will be placed to measure your respiratory effort.
If the recordings detect effort in breathing but no airflow, you are suffering from OSA. However, if there is no effort in breathing and no airflow, you could be having Central Sleep Apnea. The signals are transmitted to a computer and finally the results are either scored by the sleep technologist or a sleep physician.
A full PSG study can detect other forms of sleep disorders such as insomnia, periodic leg movement syndrome. The electrodes can record up to 60 channels of recording such as EEG, EOG, EKG,EMG.
A sleep lab system, comprising of hardware and software, should meet the requirements of American Academy of Sleep Medicine ( AASM ). Natus – Embla® offers a wide spectrum of sleep diagnostic solutions with a choice of 2 leading platforms RemLogic™ and Sandman Elite® , and which feature tools to help optimize the optimize the efficiency of the sleep lab while allowing the best in patient care.
Ambulatory and Portable Sleep Study
AASM also recognizes certain home sleep studies such as polygraph and WatchPat™.
There are various methods to obtain diagnosis. Polysomnography (PSG) is the most complete form of testing. This usually requires at least 1 night stay in the hospital. A sleep technologist will place electrode sensors to monitor your brain activity, oxygen level, eye and limb movements, muscle tone, and heart rate. Nasal cannula and belts will be placed to measure your respiratory effort.
Polygraph, which is partial PSG done at patients home, measures certain parameters and requires a trained personnel to put on various sensors such as ECG and EMG electrodes, nasal cannula and thoracic belts. The results are then analyzed by computer software. Example of polygraphs is Resmed Apnealink, Embletta® MPR PG and Embletta®Gold.
WatchPat™ is a new, clinically proven diagnostic device utilizing innovative technology that enables accurate detection of sleep related breathing disorders, in the comfort of patient’s home. It is wrist-mounted and monitors changes in peripheral arterial tone and activity as well as blood oxygen saturation level. WatchPat™ identifies apnea events at very high sensitivity and specificity levels and has been clinically validated with outcomes comparable to in-hospital PSG studies.
WatchPAT’s 3 points of contact design makes it easy to use. Simply prepare for sleep as you normally do. Just before you go to bed;
- Attach the chest sensor
- Strap on the WatchPAT bracelet to your non-dominate hand
- Slip on the finger probe That all there is to it!