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Diagnosis of sleep apnea is painless and quite simple. It requires a doctor’s evaluation and an overnight sleep evaluation study known as a Polysomnogram. During the sleep study, various neurological as well as cardiopulmonary functions are monitored in order to properly diagnose a sleep disorder.
Major Sleep Apnea Diagnosis Techniques
Polysomnography: Polysomnography (PSG) is a sleep recording performed within a sleep lab setting. This test records a variety of body functions during sleep, such as the electrical neurological activities, movement of eyes, muscle movement, breathing and heart rate, air flow in and out of the lungs and oxygen levels in blood. These tests are used both to diagnose sleep apnea and to determine severity.
Multiple Sleep Latency Test: Multiple Sleep Latency Test, also known as MSLT, measures how quickly one falls asleep. In these types of tests, patients are made to fall asleep multiple times during the day when they would normally be awake. For each event of such type, the period of time to fall asleep, or Sleep Latency, is measured. People who are known to have no sleep problems have an average sleep latency of 10 to 20 minutes to fall asleep. Individuals who have sleep latency of less than 5 minutes require sleep evaluation for potential issues. The Multiple Sleep Latency Test is useful to measure the degree of excess sleepiness during daytime. This type of diagnosis also helps rule out other types of sleep disorders.
