Neurophysiological two-channel polysomnographic device in the diagnosis of sleep apnea.

Study Objective: Our objective was to evaluate a portable device (Somté, Compumedics, Australia), which incorporates 2 neurophysiological channels (electroencephalography and electrooculography) with cardiorespiratory monitoring for the diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).

Method: Full polysomnography (PSG) and Somté recordings were simultaneously performed in 68 patients with suspected OSA. Data were analyzed blindly by 2 scorers.

Results: A good agreement between methods in sleep efficiency was observed (68.8% [18.4] with PSG vs 68% [19.1] with Somté [p: n.s.] for scorer 1, and 67.5% [19.1] vs 68.4% [18.5; p: n.s.] for scorer 2). The apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) obtained with Somté was lower than with PSG: 19 (17.8) vs 21.7 (19) (p < 0.001) for scorer 1, and 16.6 (16.7) vs 20 (18.8) (p < 0.001) for scorer 2. The sensitivity of Somté for a PSG-AHI > 5 was 91% for scorer 1 and 90% for scorer 2, while specificity was 77% and 90%, respectively. The areas under the receiver operating curve for different PSG-AHI cutoff points (≥ 5, ≥ 15, and ≥ 30) were 0.81, 0.90, and 0.86, respectively, for scorer 1, and 0.90, 0.88, and 0.83 for scorer 2.

Conclusions: These data suggest that Somté is an effective device to identify sleep and respiratory variables in patients with suspected OSA.