Sleep facilities’ technology for conducting diagnostic testing procedures for sleep disorders has been relatively stagnant for several years. The greatest technology advances in sleep apnea have been made in the diagnostic technology for sleep apnea testing in the home.
There are two major sleep study tests that are widely accepted:
Home sleep apnea testing
This test is conducted at the home of the patient. This test is specifically designed to assist in the diagnosis of sleep disordered breathing, specifically Sleep Apnea. The test is convenient for the patient and many experts agree that testing the patients while they sleep in their home environment offers many advantages to the laboratory setting that is admittedly uncomfortable for the patient.
The process for this test is to have the primary care physician screen patients for sleep abnormalities during their routine visits. When abnormalities are found, the physician will dispense a take home device that they have available in their office. The patient will take the device home, wear it that evening while they sleep, and return it to the physician’s office the next day. Results will be available usually within 24 hours. Based on the results, the physician can a) rule out OSA b) diagnose OSA and prescribe therapy or c) prescribe further sleep apnea testing or titration to be performed in a sleep laboratory using PSG.
Physicians rely on the Home Sleep Tests (HST) for sleep apnea testing to monitor anywhere from 4 to 9 channels of data. This will usually include heart rate, respiration, respiratory effort, snoring, actigraphy (head movement/position), and oximetry (amount of oxygen in the blood). Some HST are sophisticated enough to even include EEG, EOG, and EMG making it clinically comparable to a laboratory PSG.
Overnight PSG (Polysomnogram) for sleep apnea testing
This test is conducted in a sleep lab or hospital setting and requires the patient to stay overnight. It is an expensive process (hospital setting, sleep technician, often manual scoring) and many sleep centers are operating at full capacity so there is often a 3-4 week wait. It is widely agreed that PSG is a thorough and reliable test when the patient completes the process.
