Sleep Diagnostic Tests

Sleep Diagnostic Tests

 

To understand factors that may affect one’s sleep, it’s important to observe body systems, brain activities and relationships between brain and body during sleep. Diagnostic procedures enable sleep specialists to pinpoint conditions that may be causing your sleep issues.

  • Blood tests: These can help us rule out disorders that affect your metabolism and endocrine system
  • Electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG): This test of the heart’s electrical activity lets us determine if there has been any damage to the heart from untreated or undertreated breathing issues during sleep, such as obstructive sleep apnea
  • MRI scan: This imaging test can let us rule out any brain issues
  • Sleep study: During an overnight sleep study, a sleep technician will monitor you while a computerized sleep system records activity in your brain and body

Once we have the results from your diagnostic tests, we create your personalized treatment plan. This may include treatment for a sleep disorder, such as wearing a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) mask while you sleep.

Laboratory sleep study

A laboratory sleep study is the “gold standard” to make these observations and use them to diagnose sleep disorders. Our Sleep Center coordinates sleep studies to diagnose and offer treatment options for many sleep disorders, including insomnia, narcolepsy and obstructive sleep apnea.

How to request a sleep study

Your physician can order a study at the Newton-Wellesley Sleep Center by completing an order form and faxing it to the Sleep Center at 617-243-6776 or by calling the Sleep Lab at 617-243-5699.

After your sleep study

Once you’ve completed your sleep study, one of our sleep specialists will interpret our findings to help you and your referring doctor understand your unique sleep patterns and problems. If your study reveals evidence of a sleep disorder, we’ll also offer treatment recommendations.

If we determine that you have sleep apnea as a result of your study, it’s common for us to perform a second sleep study to determine the best treatment. The least invasive and most successful treatment usually is a CPAP machine. This treatment involves breathing through a mask that is connected to a small, quiet machine that pumps air through the mask. The second sleep study allows us to adjust your CPAP mask to a comfortable setting and correct your sleep apnea. Learn more about CPAP masks.