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Re: Diagnosis after Oximetry test

Posted by RenoTom on May 19, 2002 at 11:35:57:

In Reply to: Diagnosis after Oximetry test posted by Engineer on May 17, 2002 at 02:52:52:

Simple facts are that overnight oximetry as a diagnostic tool is full of errors, both false negative, and false positive which renders it useless from the standpoint of diagnostics of sleep apnea.
The only accurate test for sleep apnea is polysomnogram, which is also used to determine the appropriate therapy, either through a seperate titration study on a second night, or through a split night study in which the first part of the night is diagnostic in nature, and the second part is titration.
I would suggest at this point that you contact your sleep center and get on their cancellation list (and be prepared to go on short notice (few hours).
Since you have not had a polysomnogram, your doctors rx for CPAP therapy is strictly a guess (in my opinion of course), particularly as to pressure levels. Usuage of CPAP at this point without the sleep study may have little or no effect.
I will acknowledge that the oximtry readings you mentioned are probably what you would expect, but then we don't know the sampling method used (as someone else mentioned) in your particular device, which can skew the results dramaticly.
Hope this helps.
RenoTom

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