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HOME SLEEP APNEA TEST

Sleep apnea tests are now easier to do. Sleep apnea is a condition where the person stops breathing perhaps hundreds of times a night. Sleep apnea is associated with daytime exhaustion and even occasional deaths. The problem can cause snoring which can strain marriages, and it can lead to life threatening problems such as cardiovascular deaths. Obstructive sleep apnea can lead to hypertension, heart problems, and stroke.

Sleep apnea is a widely under-recognized problem. Thus it’s important to develop very accurate sleep apnea tests. Only one in twenty patients with sleep apnea have been diagnosed and treated. Along with cardiovascular complications, because patients are often exhausted, individuals with sleep apnea are seven times more likely to be involved in car accidents, and they’re more likely to have injuries at work.
Getting an accurate and timely diagnosis is imperative, but is becoming more difficult as awareness of the disorder grows and more patients require overnight sleep lab tests. “We would measure what’s happening to their breathing and their heart rhythm,” says Dr. Michael Thropy, the Director of the Sleep-Wake Disorder Center at Montefiore Medical Center.
Polysomnography, the gold standard for diagnosis is an expensive test that can only be done in a sleep center that accommodates overnight testing. Some sleep experts say, it’s overkill, and expensive, and that a take home test is a better choice.
“There are multiple at-home devices that can be used outside of a sleep laboratory.” Dr. Peter Michaelson of the U.S. Air Force presented his new research on take home sleep apnea tests at this major meeting of ear, nose and throat specialists. He and his colleagues found take home sleep tests can be just as accurate as a study in a sleep lab, meaning a much easier and less expensive way to make this important diagnosis.
“Many patients it is difficult for them to go to a sleep lab. It’s either difficult because they have children to care for at home or they are older or elderly. So that’s why we were looking towards some alternatives such as the home-sleep device,” says Dr. Michaelson.
Dr. Thropy disagrees with home tests. “You can’t get an accurate assessment of what’s going on. The patient may like it because they are at home, and they think that they’re getting an adequate recording, but very often it’s not. In general it’s far more preferable to do it in a controlled environment where you can make sure you’re getting accurate signals and accurate information,” states Dr. Thropy.
Perhaps there’s a place for both.
“If a patient has any other medical problems, we definitely recommend that they go get a multi-channel polysonogram,” says Dr. Michaelson.
There are several approaches to treating sleep apnea. One involves wearing a mask at night that’s connected to a machine that forces air into the lungs, which in essence props open the airway and prevents the obstruction. There are also surgeries of the soft palate, and a new, less invasive approach just approved by the FDA uses tiny match-stick like rods inserted into the soft palate. Scar tissue forms around them and this stiffens the soft palate, making it less likely to collapse.
For more information on the home sleep apnea tests studied, click here: www.snaplab.com.

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