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At the Sleep Disorders Center

The sleep specialist will evaluate your problem, and may have you spend a night or two in the sleep-evaluation laboratory to monitor various aspects of sleep. This evaluation will determine if you suffer from sleep apnea, what types of apnea it is, the severity of your disorder and how best to treat it. Technicians will place dime-sized sensors at various points on your body to record brain waves, muscle activity, leg and arm movements, heart rhythms, and other body functions during sleep. Several devices may be used to assess different aspects of a patient's breathing. Temperature sensitive beads are taped at the airway to measure the rate air enters and leaves the lungs. These tests help document when and if apneas occur. Elastic bands may be placed around the chest and abdomen to show the effort needed to breathe, and a device clipped to the finger charts the fall in the level of oxygen with each apnea. Sleep may be studied during the day as well through a series of naps offered at 2-hour intervals. This study, known as the Multiple Sleep Latency Test, documents daytime sleepiness, which is often extreme when sleep apnea is severe. The test may also be used to differentiate sleep apnea from other causes of daytime sleepiness, such as narcolepsy, a neurologic disorder. Various types of x-rays and direct examination of the airway with fiberoptics may also be conducted in people with obstructive sleep apnea to provide a better picture of the upper airway.