Requesting Copy of PSG: How Much Data?

I requested a copy of my PSG from the sleep lab and got back about 18 pages. It's got the charts, etc.

What I didn't get, and was expecting to get, was all the data from the eight hours or so they monitored me.

Is it worth going back to them and getting the whole damn file? I'm only collecting all my records to have them for future needs, not any particular problem I'm having now.

Drowsy Dancer wrote:I requested a copy of my PSG from the sleep lab and got back about 18 pages. It's got the charts, etc.

What I didn't get, and was expecting to get, was all the data from the eight hours or so they monitored me.

Is it worth going back to them and getting the whole damn file? I'm only collecting all my records to have them for future needs, not any particular problem I'm having now.

Nope. Some folks have requested those files and then found out they need special software to read the data from the DVDs and then couldn't interpret what it said anyway.

You got the "meat" of what you need and that should give you the whole picture.


Den

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That was my vague recollection. On the other hand, when I asked (from a different provider, obviously!) for all of my mammograms in digital form I got them on a DVD with a built-in reader, so I wondered if that might be a possibility.

Here's a very recent example:

viewtopic/t110915/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=1 ... s#p1063260

Some records are worthwhile to have saved on USB drives or CDs or DVDs, but in the case of the sleep studies, I think it would be "overkill".......and there may be more versions of the data that may require different software to read. Besides, the sleep studies are a snapshot of a few hours in one night. The summaries will be good enough for whatever medical proof that would be necessary for virtually any set of circumstances.


Den

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Wulfman... wrote:Here's a very recent example:

viewtopic/t110915/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=1 ... s#p1063260

Some records are worthwhile to have saved on USB drives or CDs or DVDs, but in the case of the sleep studies, I think it would be "overkill".......and there may be more versions of the data that may require different software to read. Besides, the sleep studies are a snapshot of a few hours in one night. The summaries will be good enough for whatever medical proof that would be necessary for virtually any set of circumstances.


Den

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I guess the only question is whether the raw data would be useful for comparison purposes to a subsequent provider who might do a followup PSG on me someday. I think the answer must be "probably not."

It's also important to remember that the data they collected is based on 'outside' limits of possibilities, e.g. they may have asked you to sleep on your back for a time even if it's not usual for you, or they took notes of your lowest and highest 02 results in certain instances... it gives them 'worst scenario' stats to use as baselines, though you wouldn't necessarily sleep the same way at home long term... so I'd be careful about trying to interpret what you have in everyday terms.

Drowsy Dancer wrote:

Wulfman... wrote:Here's a very recent example:

viewtopic/t110915/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=1 ... s#p1063260

Some records are worthwhile to have saved on USB drives or CDs or DVDs, but in the case of the sleep studies, I think it would be "overkill".......and there may be more versions of the data that may require different software to read. Besides, the sleep studies are a snapshot of a few hours in one night. The summaries will be good enough for whatever medical proof that would be necessary for virtually any set of circumstances.


Den

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I guess the only question is whether the raw data would be useful for comparison purposes to a subsequent provider who might do a followup PSG on me someday. I think the answer must be "probably not."

That's my opinion. Once we start therapy and go from NN.N AHI (46 in my case) before therapy to 0.N AHI (0.3 in my case) then we're being adequately treated and if the therapy continues to be effective (monitoring it with software), further sleep studies should not really be necessary. And, the original is all summarized on those 18 (or whatever number) pages.


Den

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Not to mention that I now have five years of data on my SD cards, although t's true I don't have as many channels nightly.