Home Sleep Study what to expect

My DR just called me back. Actually I was in a meeting so he left a voice mail. That means I could not ask questions.... I have been working through APAP, BIPAP and was having continuing problems with centrals. The DR is confused because the single night sleep study results are different than what I am having at home. ( I am still waiting for my copy of the sleep study)......

So he is setting me up fro a home sleep study, and if I get a score of more that 50% centrals, I am headed to ASV. (Why am I happy about this)

From my home history this should not be a problem. This is my history for CPAP and BIPAP at home. I guess that the sleep study hit one of the "Good days/nights"
BIPAP started at the big spike to the right...... wrong machine setting.....



SO the question. What can I expect from a home sleep study?

The DR mentioned something about interfacing to my machine, and that the machine data alone was not enough to show centrals (something that is re-enforced many times in this forum, so that does not surprise me)

I assume that there will be a belt to record my breathing effort.

IS there something to deal with the ECG end of it???

AGain thanks in advance for the replies. I see a little light at the end of this tunnel.... I know that they are not all the same, but what should I be expecting? I want to be sure they get what is needed.

I do plan to look at the results from my machine, and if I have a good noght, then it will be repeated a second night. [/i]

Not ECG...that is electrocardiagram for the heart

EEG for brain waves to determine if you are really asleep or not. A central that is detected in a sleep lab setting with a tech in attendance isn't scored as a central if you aren't asleep.

Centrals must meet certain criteria ( must be asleep and thoracic effort or not) along with the cessation of breathing before it gets flagged as a central that is worth counting.

ks, so the question is, how do they tell when you are asleep on a home study?

wilsonintexas wrote:ks, so the question is, how do they tell when you are asleep on a home study?

Beats me. I don't know what devices they plan on using nor how they gather or interpret the data that they do gather.
Though I will be the first to admit that I sure don't know what is available now in the home studies. I would assume some sort of EEG electrodes to measure brain waves but that is just an assumption.
Also, is this to be done with or without the machine? Are they adding some sort of EEG data to your existing bipap machine reports? To have another study without the machine doesn't tell you what what is going on with the machine.

I think it depends on the protocol they will use for the home sleep study. Some actually wire you up for an EEG and EKG and belt and ... then send you home with a recorder. With the EEG along with the belt, they can certainly tell if you are asleep and if the apnea is a central apnea or not. I know that one of the hospitals in my area offered (at least at one time) this as an option. It reduces the expense - since someone does not need to monitor the therapy. However, it is typically NOT used for folks with central sleep apnea and/or during an ASV titration study. But I would assume that with a Respironics AutoSV Advanced unit you could get good data and allow it to find the appropriate range for both obstructive and central apneas. Of course, if there is any tendency toward complex sleep apnea running it all out will only make things worse.

In other words, I dunno what you will have when you head home. Hopefully, however, it will help you address your sleep issues.

I don't know what devices they will use for you, but Kaiser uses a device called an Itamar Watch Pat. You can look it up and see what it measures and how. I don't know if there are more sophisticated home devices or not.

I have an apoitment to go in and be fitted Friday night. SO we will see.
Thansk for the info.

Then I have to get the results in, and an order for a ASV Sleep study. it will be a tight schedule, I heaad off to my daughters wedding (from Texas) on august 29th. I suspect that I will not get the sleep study completed, and the persctiprton for a new machine in time.

I will see if they will let me do a home titration study, but in general I see whyu that is not a good idea.

Thanks again.