Sleep Lab Tests & Home Sleep Tests
first gained popularity in the 1980's with the advent of Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) devices. The limited technology required two overnight sleep tests, with a technician monitoring the patient in a nearby room. The first overnight test was to diagnose sleep apnea. This is done by monitoring waveform data produced by the patient's chest effort, airflow from their nose and mouth, oxygen level from a finger oximeter probe and heart rate. During Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA), data displays chest effort, with limited airflow for at least 10 seconds. A side affect of continual apneas is a reduction in oxygen levels and sometimes an elevation of heart rate. Excessive Daytime Sleepiness is one of the many products of nightly apneas.
The second overnight test is called a titration study. The technician applies CPAP therapy to the patent using a mask interface and remotely adjusts the device pressure (titrating the patient) at a level which will stop the apneas from occurring. This is typically done by trial and error ranging from a pressure of 4cmH20 to 20cmH20. The technician begins at a low pressure setting and monitors the patient. If the patient is still having apneas, then the technician will increase the pressure until the patient no longer has apneas. The usually the ordering physician will prescribe standard CPAP at the highest pressure set by the technician.
Over the last ten years, the digital advancements which brought us laptops and smartphones modernized sleep diagnostics. Primary sensors used to diagnose sleep apnea in hospital sleep disorder centers became available for home testing at a tremendous convenience to patients and at a fraction of the operating cost.
In 2008, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services approved Home Sleep Testing for diagnosing Sleep Apnea.
The second overnight test is called a titration study. The technician applies CPAP therapy to the patent using a mask interface and remotely adjusts the device pressure (titrating the patient) at a level which will stop the apneas from occurring. This is typically done by trial and error ranging from a pressure of 4cmH20 to 20cmH20. The technician begins at a low pressure setting and monitors the patient. If the patient is still having apneas, then the technician will increase the pressure until the patient no longer has apneas. The usually the ordering physician will prescribe standard CPAP at the highest pressure set by the technician.
Over the last ten years, the digital advancements which brought us laptops and smartphones modernized sleep diagnostics. Primary sensors used to diagnose sleep apnea in hospital sleep disorder centers became available for home testing at a tremendous convenience to patients and at a fraction of the operating cost.
In 2008, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services approved Home Sleep Testing for diagnosing Sleep Apnea.
