An Introduction to Sleep Apnea: Diagnosis
Posted on | October 7, 2009 | 2 Comments
A gap in breathing alone is not enough to be classified as an ‘apneic’ event and to diagnose the condition a patient will be subjected to a sleep study – an overnight sleeping test called a ‘polysomnogram’. During the polysomnogram patients will have their neurological activity measured on an ‘electro-encephalograph’ or ‘EEG’.
The EEG device will consist of several pads strapped to the head of the patient which will measure all electrical activity in the brain (the neurons of the brain communicate and send signals via electrical signals known as action potentials). This enables the medical professionals to measure the stage of sleep that the patient is in and whether or not any unusual spike in activity coincides with the apnea.
To be classified as apnea the 10 second + pause in breathing must be accompanied by a shift in neurological activity lasting three seconds. At the same time there should be a blood oxygen desaturation of 3% or more, though either of these symptoms alone will also lead to a diagnosis of sleep apnea. For the condition to be considered clinically significant however, the individual must experience five or more instances of apnea during the night. However once the patient is classed as having sleep apnea, there are still many different permeations of the condition that they could be diagnosed as having.
Comments
2 Responses to “An Introduction to Sleep Apnea: Diagnosis”
Leave a Reply
October 8th, 2009 @ 6:18 pm
[...] Sleep Apnea Symptoms | Cure Sleep Apnea Causes and Treatments for Sleep Disorder « An Introduction to Sleep Apnea: Diagnosis [...]
October 9th, 2009 @ 8:56 am
[...] as fatigue and tiredness. To identify any difficulties sleeping as sleep apnea however, you need to understand exact symptoms and causes; and to stand the best chance of coping with the condition you need to understand as much about it [...]