Sleep Studies
What is the purpose of a sleep study?

Could snoring kill you? The answer could be in your finger tip!

A revolutionary high tech device makes sleep study available to millions of snorers at the convenience of their home.

Snoring is one of the signs of a deadly condition known as sleep apnea.  For millions of individuals suffering from yet undiagnosed apnea going to a sleep lab or a hospital is uncomfortable and in some cases not practical. 

 Now a new and unique technology is available to address many issues of screening and diagnosing sleep apnea to rest.  The device manufactured by Itamar Medical Ltd. Caesarea, Israel is marketed as Watch-PAT 100.  Convenience, accuracy and ease of analysis put this device far apart from others according to Dr. Mansoor Madani, a pioneering surgeon who has done extensive research on snoring and obstructive sleep apnea. “We have found this device to be patient friendly as well as physician friendly” Madani adds.  It is so simple to use by our patients and so easy to read.  In fact the analysis and reporting is done automatically. The digital signals are processed algorithmically and automatic scoring are presented in a comprehensive report within few minutes from the physicians own computer.

“We have found this device to interfere far less with patients sleep pattern resulting in much higher sleep efficiency” explains Dr. Madani who is the chairman of oral and maxillofacial surgery at the Capital Health System in Trenton N.J. and director of Center for Corrective Surgery in Bala Cynwyd PA.  One of the main problems he has heard repeatedly from thousands of patients during the last 2 decayed is patient’s reluctance to have a sleep study in a hospital setting or a laboratory.  “Now we can check patient’s apnea problems in the comfort of their home.

Watch-PAT 100 records and stores data on removable flashcard media just like your digital camera. The flash card is then placed in a special portal connected to the doctor’s computer and upon insertion of the card is auto read and calibrated.  The results will be available to patient the following day.

The automatic algorithm of this special software detects respiratory events based on the PAT signal amplitude, pulse rate changes (derived from the PAT signal), and oxygen saturation. The Actigraph together with additional signals is used for sleep wake staging. The software issues a detailed report with sleep-wake and respiratory events statistics.

The Watch-PAT 100 is a self-contained device that is worn on the wrist and uses a non-invasive finger mounted pneu-optical probe to measure the PAT signal. The recorded signals are stored in a removable memory card in the device to be downloaded to a computer for automatic analysis utilizing proprietary algorithms. In addition to the PAT Signal, the Watch-PAT 100 records oxygen saturation and actigraphy. A fourth channel, pulse rate, is derived from the PAT Signal.

Snoring is associated with sleep apnea and unfortunately is not taken seriously in most cases; it is one of the first signs of sleep apnea. “If with a push of a bottom we can screen our patients for obstructive sleep apnea we may in fact be able to diagnose and potentially save their life” Says Dr. Madani who has done laser surgery on thousands of patients and is reporting on his findings at the upcoming American College of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons annual meeting in Las Vegas Nevada. 

Additional information:

Watch-PAT100

The Watch-PAT Sleep study report consists of two pages. The first page is the patient information, referring physician and medical evaluation. The second page is the patient’s sleep study indices and graphic report of the sleep study.

PAT RDI:

PRDI- The PAT detected Respiratory Disturbance Index, expresses the number of PAT respiratory events per hour of actual sleep which has been shown to be an accurate estimate of RDI.

The RDI is the recommended measurement for the severity of Obstructive Sleep Apnea, by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (ASSM). The index includes the following respiratory events as measured by polysomnography:

Apnea: Is cessation of respiration, during sleep for 10 seconds or more.

Hypopnea: Reduction of respiration followed by a desaturation of at least 3% or an arousal.

 RERA: Obstructive event that does not meet the criteria for apnea or hypopnea but causes arousal from sleep (typically seen as flow limitation terminated by an arousal).

 PAT AHI: This Index includes the number of Apnea and Hypopnea events per hour of actual sleep. The AHI provides additional information about the severity of OSA, the characteristics of the respiratory events and can contribute to the treatment decision.

ODI

This index expresses the number of oxygen desaturation events during an hour of sleep. Desaturation event is determined as reduction of 4% or more of the oxygen saturation baseline level. The index includes the events that occurred during sleep time, and it does not includes events occurred during wake periods.

Snoring is one of the signs of sleep apnea, a serious & potentially life-threatening condition.  Sleep study can rule that out!

A sleep study (Polysomnography) is a method of determining the quality of sleep while monitoring changes in oxygen level.  Monitoring your sleep during an overnight visit to the sleep center could determine whether you just snore or suffer from sleep apnea. A sleep study logs how your heart, lungs and other parts of your body function while you sleep. The test may be conducted in a sleep lab or in the privacy of your own home depending on several factors. For extremely overweight individuals with signs and symptoms of sleep apnea, a sleep study is normally recommended prior to surgery. However, sleep studies could be performed following surgery on patients who do not have symptoms of sleep apnea and their body weight does not exceed more than 25% of the average.

We will discus the importance of sleep study during our consultation meeting and you could choose the timing of it. We recommend all patients have a sleep study done at some point during their treatment.   You must understand that sleep study is only a diagnostic tool and not a treatment .  Once you are diagnosed for having sleep apnea the most effective way to correct your apnea is weight loss and CPAP.

Schedule your appointment for treatment online now.