Sleep Diagnostic Equipment

I was given a Home study for sleep apnea in July 2020 by my EP/Cardiologist because I have AFIB–and OSA can be a cause/effect of AFIB. My Ep did not tell me that the results would be sent to a Cardiologist specializing in Sleep disorders–and I got a phone call– out of the blue– from an office I was not aware of telling me they were calling to schedule my CPAP fitting@!! I was shocked–and said, I have not even yet received a diagnosis. So, it was explained that this was the office of the Cardio/Sleep Dr. and I should come in for an appointment to receive my results. The results indicated I had severe OAS– at 52 episodes an hour!! It also indicated that I sleep in a supine position 50% of the time!! I know I DO NOT sleep in a supine position–I sleep prone and have always. So, I just felt they had mixed up the results of my test with someone else!1 subsequently I went to a different reknown Sleep ENT and after a (failed-because I couldn’t sleep enough) in lab test–followed by their At Home test, he determined that I do NOT have OAS! This has been such a alarming journey– and I will see my EP on Thursday to convey the new results–during my semi-annual appointment. I would like more professionals to be aware that the results an get mixed up– How?? I don’t know– but those results were definitely Not Mine. There should be some discussions of this problem on this website. Thank you for reading and replying.

Kathleen – I felt compelled to respond to your comment as the incredulity you expressed therein is consistent with what I hear from my patients on a regular basis. Of course, I’m unable to offer any specific insights into your studies without having examined the results, but I can offer some general information that may lend perspective to your experience. I’m a Registered Polysomnographic Technologist, and I’ve worked in the field of sleep medicine for nearly two decades. With that as context, the first thing I wanted to address was the statement that you know with apodictic certainty that you sleep solely in the prone position, whereas the results of your first HST indicate you spent >50% of the time in the supine position. Seemingly from this data point alone you surmise that your results must have been “switched” with that of another patient (this is an extremely remote possibility, by the way). There are a number of things to consider here: first, the Body Position Monitor you wore during your HST could have easily become displaced, and as such was reading incorrectly; obviously, there’d be no tech there to address the issue as HSTs are unattended. Moreover, there’s no video recording with which your doctor could collate data or verify your body position after the fact. Consequently, you could have been in the prone position while the displaced Body Position Monitor erroneously indicated your were supine. This occurs frequently in Lab; the dichotomy is I can simply replace the errant sensor in real time during an attended study. Secondly (and I’m confident this will be met with the same degree of scepticism as the results of your study), you have to bear in mind that you don’t know what you do or don’t do while you’re sleeping, regardless of how vociferously you maintain that you do. This revelation seems to come as something of a surprise to the uninitiated. To further explain, sleep is characterized asp a reversible coma state, and is by definition a privative construct: it is a lack of consciousness (perceptually, I mean: sleep is actually a remarkably complex and dynamic process and our endocrine system and whatnot is very active while we sleep, though we remain largely unaware). We simply don’t have a faculty for perceiving our own sleep. Furthermore, the pathways by which we form, amalgamate and store our memories are closed to us while we sleep. As a consequence, there’s a very high likelihood you’re spending some period of time sleeping in positions other than prone, believe it or not. I rarely observe patients remaining in one singular position for the length of their studies. Honestly, I couldn’t even begin to quantify the number of times I’ve had patients awaken in the morning in Lab and unironically say something along the lines of, “See, I told you I never sleep on my back!” Meanwhile, the majority of these individuals not only slept supine at least some of the time, but not uncommonly the majority of the time. And unlike with HST, I’m there to witness what position the patients sleep in. The reality is our own sleep is largely a mystery to us (by extension, this is why we have everything from alarm clocks to burglar alarms to smoke detectors; the fact that people suffocate and/or burn to death while asleep should provide ample evidence of just how dampened our central nervous system is, and how truly insensate we are when asleep). Third, it’s worth noting that there can be a considerable amount of night-to-night variability in regard to sleep disordered breathing. It would be arbitrary to assume that your last HST was any more accurate than your initial HST (apart from the fact that the results are likely more comforting insofar as they seem to indicate you don’t have SDB). In addition to everything else I mention above, it’s just a fact that HSTs (Home Sleep Tests) simply aren’t as accurate as in Lab testing. They’re more cost effective (read: cheaper) for insurance companies, as well as doctors. Hence the push toward HSTs. With an HST we’re not monitoring EEGs, which is necessary for determining which sleep stage you’re in at any given time; this is important being that SDB can increase or decrease in severity significantly based upon which stage of sleep you’re in, along with your body position, etc. Given your cardiac history, I’d recommend undergoing a repeat DX sleep study at an accredited Lab to ensure you don’t have OSA. If you do have an AHI of 52, that’s very severe Sleep Disordered Breathing, and you’re at an increased likelihood of having a heart attack, strokes, etc. Incidentally, it’s not merely that OSA is one of multiple possible causes of atrial fibrillation, it’s in fact one of the foremost causes of A. Fib. I hope my perspective can be of some use to you, or someone else. Take care.

11 thoughts on “Sleep Diagnostic Equipment”

Carlos Zuñiga Vasquez July 26, 2021 Reply

Hi, do you have a list of thE PSG type II aproved decides?
Kathleen H November 3, 2020 Reply

I was given a Home study for sleep apnea in July 2020 by my EP/Cardiologist because I have AFIB–and OSA can be a cause/effect of AFIB. My Ep did not tell me that the results would be sent to a Cardiologist specializing in Sleep disorders–and I got a phone call– out of the blue– from an office I was not aware of telling me they were calling to schedule my CPAP fitting@!! I was shocked–and said, I have not even yet received a diagnosis. So, it was explained that this was the office of the Cardio/Sleep Dr. and I should come in for an appointment to receive my results. The results indicated I had severe OAS– at 52 episodes an hour!! It also indicated that I sleep in a supine position 50% of the time!! I know I DO NOT sleep in a supine position–I sleep prone and have always. So, I just felt they had mixed up the results of my test with someone else!1 subsequently I went to a different reknown Sleep ENT and after a (failed-because I couldn’t sleep enough) in lab test–followed by their At Home test, he determined that I do NOT have OAS! This has been such a alarming journey– and I will see my EP on Thursday to convey the new results–during my semi-annual appointment. I would like more professionals to be aware that the results an get mixed up– How?? I don’t know– but those results were definitely Not Mine. There should be some discussions of this problem on this website. Thank you for reading and replying.
- William Z., RPSGT, RST July 9, 2021 Reply
  
  Kathleen – I felt compelled to respond to your comment as the incredulity you expressed therein is consistent with what I hear from my patients on a regular basis. Of course, I’m unable to offer any specific insights into your studies without having examined the results, but I can offer some general information that may lend perspective to your experience. I’m a Registered Polysomnographic Technologist, and I’ve worked in the field of sleep medicine for nearly two decades. With that as context, the first thing I wanted to address was the statement that you know with apodictic certainty that you sleep solely in the prone position, whereas the results of your first HST indicate you spent >50% of the time in the supine position. Seemingly from this data point alone you surmise that your results must have been “switched” with that of another patient (this is an extremely remote possibility, by the way). There are a number of things to consider here: first, the Body Position Monitor you wore during your HST could have easily become displaced, and as such was reading incorrectly; obviously, there’d be no tech there to address the issue as HSTs are unattended. Moreover, there’s no video recording with which your doctor could collate data or verify your body position after the fact. Consequently, you could have been in the prone position while the displaced Body Position Monitor erroneously indicated your were supine. This occurs frequently in Lab; the dichotomy is I can simply replace the errant sensor in real time during an attended study. Secondly (and I’m confident this will be met with the same degree of scepticism as the results of your study), you have to bear in mind that you don’t know what you do or don’t do while you’re sleeping, regardless of how vociferously you maintain that you do. This revelation seems to come as something of a surprise to the uninitiated. To further explain, sleep is characterized asp a reversible coma state, and is by definition a privative construct: it is a lack of consciousness (perceptually, I mean: sleep is actually a remarkably complex and dynamic process and our endocrine system and whatnot is very active while we sleep, though we remain largely unaware). We simply don’t have a faculty for perceiving our own sleep. Furthermore, the pathways by which we form, amalgamate and store our memories are closed to us while we sleep. As a consequence, there’s a very high likelihood you’re spending some period of time sleeping in positions other than prone, believe it or not. I rarely observe patients remaining in one singular position for the length of their studies. Honestly, I couldn’t even begin to quantify the number of times I’ve had patients awaken in the morning in Lab and unironically say something along the lines of, “See, I told you I never sleep on my back!” Meanwhile, the majority of these individuals not only slept supine at least some of the time, but not uncommonly the majority of the time. And unlike with HST, I’m there to witness what position the patients sleep in. The reality is our own sleep is largely a mystery to us (by extension, this is why we have everything from alarm clocks to burglar alarms to smoke detectors; the fact that people suffocate and/or burn to death while asleep should provide ample evidence of just how dampened our central nervous system is, and how truly insensate we are when asleep). Third, it’s worth noting that there can be a considerable amount of night-to-night variability in regard to sleep disordered breathing. It would be arbitrary to assume that your last HST was any more accurate than your initial HST (apart from the fact that the results are likely more comforting insofar as they seem to indicate you don’t have SDB). In addition to everything else I mention above, it’s just a fact that HSTs (Home Sleep Tests) simply aren’t as accurate as in Lab testing. They’re more cost effective (read: cheaper) for insurance companies, as well as doctors. Hence the push toward HSTs. With an HST we’re not monitoring EEGs, which is necessary for determining which sleep stage you’re in at any given time; this is important being that SDB can increase or decrease in severity significantly based upon which stage of sleep you’re in, along with your body position, etc. Given your cardiac history, I’d recommend undergoing a repeat DX sleep study at an accredited Lab to ensure you don’t have OSA. If you do have an AHI of 52, that’s very severe Sleep Disordered Breathing, and you’re at an increased likelihood of having a heart attack, strokes, etc. Incidentally, it’s not merely that OSA is one of multiple possible causes of atrial fibrillation, it’s in fact one of the foremost causes of A. Fib. I hope my perspective can be of some use to you, or someone else. Take care.
Jaymes Shaw October 26, 2019 Reply

Any used mobile sleep diagnostic systems available?
Fiona October 22, 2019 Reply

I need to know whether the Philips Pdx is registered/Authorized for pediatric use?
This information isn’t on the Philips website or Pdx manual.
Thanks
- Jill Kirk March 13, 2020 Reply
  
  If your still looking let me know. I have sleep testing equipment used less than 1 year.
  - Adam April 10, 2020 Reply
    
    Which machine you have.
Duy Pham June 20, 2019 Reply

Any used sleep diagnostic systems available?
Debbi Smith March 19, 2019 Reply

Good Morning,
Our practice is considering administering Home Sleep Studies. Can you please provide me with pricing (per unit) of the best/easiest machine you have?
Nevashnee November 22, 2017 Reply

Good Day,

Please can you assist with a quote for a Diagnostic Sleep study machine for our practice.
Thomas Tidwell November 19, 2017 Reply

Need information on Nihon Khoden PSG system as well as home sleep system

11 thoughts on “Sleep Diagnostic Equipment”

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