Sleep Study of Subjects Given Diazepam
1988 Volume 81 Issue 11 Pages 1631-1637
Details
1988 Volume 81 Issue 11 Pages 1631-1637
Sleep study is important for the diagnosis of the sleep apnea syndrome (SAS), but it is somewhat difficult to perform and cannot be used to all patients with SAS. We propose a modified test, which may be easier and more useful.
Patients are sedated with diazepam, and pernasal endoscopy is carried out to reveal the contracted portion of the upper respiratory tract and/or the origin of the snore. The frequency of apneic episodes is recorded at the same time. We examined six patients, three with sleep apnea syndrome and three with simple snoring, both with and without diazepam sedation.
1) Apneic episodes were increased by diazepam treatment in SAS patients, but they were unchanged in simple snorers.
2) The duration of apnea in SAS patients was not affected by diazepam treatment.
3) The other characteristics of apnea ordinarily seen in SAS patients were not affected by diazepam.
It is concluded that our new test can be useful in the diagnosis of SAS and the demonstration of the cause of snoring and the location of contractions of the air way.
