Device Monitors REM Sleep

A wrist-worn device designed to aid the analysis of sleep-related breathing disorders now has expanded indications. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared the device as a diagnostic aid for the detection of rapid-eye movement (REM) sleep stages.

Before this approval, the only way to detect REM-sleep stages was with an in-lab overnight polysomnographic study. Using Watch-PAT (peripheral arterial tonometry), researchers showed that the device was predictive of REM sleep and was close to the gold standard in sleep lab evaluation. Watch-PAT offers a lower-cost option that can expand the availability of diagnostic testing at home or in the hospital.

REM detection is a critical component of the evaluation of sleep disorders, but has been difficult to measure without the use of an electroencephalogram (EEG), electrocardiogram (ECG), and electrooculogram (EOG) electrodes attached to the patient's head and chest.

"REM sleep detection is important for proper sleep disorder diagnosis and a critical factor in the evaluation of sleep quality and patient responses to the treatment of sleep apnea,” stated David P. White, M.D., professor of sleep medicine at Harvard University School of Medicine and director, sleep disorders program at Brigham and Women's Hospital (Boston, USA).

Watch-PAT was developed by researchers at the Technion Israel Institute of Technology (Haifa, Israel), and was studied at sleep centers affiliated with Harvard Medical School and other centers. The Watch-PAT and other PAT products are being marketed by Itamar Medical Ltd. (Caesarea, Israel).





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