3 SLP chief technology officer Noam Hadas and director of sales and marketing Sarah Paddock recommend securing wires with a piece of tape several inches from the sensors to prevent movement artifacts.Įye movement is a specific type of artifact that can occur during a sleep test. 3 If there is artifact once the movement stops, the technologist must isolate the cause and repair or re-reference the problematic channel(s). Although it can often resolve itself, the sleep tech must pay close attention once the patient stops moving that no electrodes have been dislodged or upset. Movement artifact is apparent in all the channels as patients shift normally in sleep or in response to a disruptive breathing event. The physiological sources of artifact can include a range of causes, including movement, skin, respiration artifact, and muscle activity. Leah Hanson, REEG/EPT, vice president of global sales for Rhythmlink, says, “This identification is critical as artifacts can obliterate the data of interest, so if artifacts are not recognized…we can never uncover the actual data of interest leaving the testing useless for qualified diagnosis and treatment recommendations.” Sources of Artifact: Physiological Artifact “Throughout the night, the technologist should know when and how to replace dislodged electrodes, know how to re-reference electrodes, apply filters, and change gain settings,” she says.ĭymedix’s Eiken adds: “If artifact is recorded, it is the role of the technologist as well as an interpreting physician to adjust gain, common reference electrodes, or frequency filter settings during the scoring and interpretation phases of the analysis procedure to ensure accurate PSG results are obtained.” This includes checking at the beginning of the sleep study for accurate and secure lead placement, identifying any high impedances, conducting bio-calibrations, and ensuring equipment is properly grounded and working effectively,” says Penrod. ![]() “The sleep technologist’s role is to identify artifacts and understand what is causing them. Artifact can not only mask or reduce the visibility of clinically significant PSG information, but it can also create false-positive and false-negative results.” Role of the Technologist This helps to avoid repeating the study if data quality is poor throughout the test.”Īccording to Todd Eiken, RPSGT, director of product development for Dymedix Diagnostics, “It is critically important that a sleep disorders technologist, as well as an interpreting physician, be able to identify and eliminate artifact that occurs during a PSG. 2 The sleep technologist conducting the study plays an essential role in identifying and correcting artifacts.ĭawn Penrod, global product manager, sleep diagnostics, at Philips, says, “Identifying artifacts in a sleep study is an important part of ensuring that all portions of the study are scored despite instances of unreadable data or misleading results. ![]() 1 An artifact may arise from a variety of sources, both internal and external to the recording, and timely and accurate correction of the various types of unwanted signals can lead to the acquisition of a high-quality recording. In a sleep study, an artifact is an extraneous signal that represents activity other than what is intended for a given channel on a PSG. ![]() From proper electrode application to room setup, sleep technologists can take a number of measures to lessen interference during a sleep study.
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