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(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- If youve ever had a sleep test, you know it means attaching lots of scientific sensors to your body. Getting to sleep with that amount of hardware affixed to your personal software, however, can be a challenge.
Now, researchers in Texas report they may have the answer: a new infrared device to can measure heat signals expired from the mouth or nostrils of sleeping patients from across the room. The device performed well in an initial study on 13 men and women without known sleep apnea.
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Overall, the infrared device identified 22 sleep-related events, compared with 22 events detected when the participants were tested with a conventional device to measure expired heat and 19 events when they were tested using a device to measure nasal pressure.
The underlying principle of monitoring the relative changes in airflow based on the changing of the infrared heat signal is similar to that of the traditional thermistor, study author Jayasimha Murthy, M.D., an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, was quoted as saying. However, the biggest difference is that the thermistor is placed in the subjects nostril while the infrared camera is placed 6 to 8 feet from the patients head.
The new device also records airflow data from the test, allowing doctors to review the data after the sleep study is over.
Dr. Murthy notes more study will be needed before the infrared device can be put into clinical practice, but if further testing confirms its effectiveness, it could make sleep testing a lot easier and more comfortable for patients.
This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, which offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, click on: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.
SOURCE: Presented at CHEST 2007 in Chicago, Oct. 20-25, 2007
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