?understanding Sleep Study Results? Posted: 01-30-05 22:33pm
I do not understand my sleep study
results. I was on cpap for a year and a
half and I had gotten sooo sleepy during
the day and the memory loss was driving my
family and friends crazy. I had another
sleep study done. The doctor called in a
presription for a bipap machine even
before I saw him for my results. The
doctor told me that I have severe sleep
apnea, and that he is surprised I am
walking around! He stated that I had
stopped breathing numerous times amounting
from 10-45 seconds. He did explain the
results...But I was so exhausted and
zoning out and I did not ask him to
explain the report all over again. I did
however ask for a copy and thought that I
would read it at home, no problem...But
there was a problem. I don't understand
what I am reading! Medical jargon?
Please tell me what this all means and
what the numbers mean compared to normal
results.
Polysomnography report: during the
initial half of the study the patient had
a sleep efficiency of 87%. 11% of the
total sleep time was spent in stage I
sleep, and 77% stage ii sleep. The
paitient has 214 obstructive events with 3
obstructive apnes, 1 mixed apnea, 1
central apnea, 209 hypopneas, for an index
of 116.
Nadir sa02 with a respiratory event was
75%, seen during stage I sleep. Soft to
loud snoring was noted. The ekg and the
eeg channel from the polysomnogram were
normal.
There were 357 periodic limb movements of
sleep which caused 20 arrousals, resulting
an index of 10. There were 23
unexplained arousals with total arousals
of 216, and index of total arousals of
117. Alpha intrusion was not seen.
Cpap tritation study: the patient's
awake sa02 on room air was 96%.
Titration was begun at a continuous
pressure of 12cm, and increased through
14, 16 cm, then switched to bilevel
pressures of 18/16, 20/16, 22/16, and
24/18. At a pressure of 18/16, recorded
for 38 minutes with 32 minutes spent in
rem sleep, 6 minutes spent in non rem
sleep, the patient had 3 hypopneas,
resulting in an rdi of 5. Nadir sa02 at
this setting of cpap was 92%. The
patient also did well at a pressure of
20/16, which was recorded for 55 minutes
with 6 minutes spent in rem sleep, and the
patient had an rdi of 6.
Diagnosis: obstructive sleep apnea
syndrome.
Summary and conclusions: this study
demonstrated effective treatment of the
patient's severe sleep apnea with bilevel
pressures of 18/16 . The patient is to
be fitted with a medium sized nasal mask
with in-line humidification and ramp is to
be set at 10 minutes.
The technician came to my home to
demonstrate the bipap machine, which was
exactly like the former cpap that I had.
He said the ramp was set to 10, and the
settings were 18/16.
So, what does the abrieviations mean?
(sa02, rdi)?
214 obstructive events, as well as mixed
apnea, central apnea, and 209 hypopneas?
What does this translate to?
What are all the listed index numbers
mean?
How do all these numbers compare to an
acceptable report?
What contents of the report make me fall
into a diagnosis of "severe" and
"obstructive sleep apnea syndrome."?
Why is this condition labeled a
syndrome?
I would like help understanding the
report, which was copied verbatim onto
this post.
Thank you in advance! I cannot wait
until there are answers/replies to read!
Also, I got worse and needed the bipap
machine. As I age does this condition
worsen? (i am 41)
my parents are very concerned. I told
them I will try to get information from
the net. I think not
knowing/understanding what the report
means, people tend to think the worse of
any given situation.
