What are Neurodiagnostics and Sleep Science?
The brain and nervous system play a major role in a person’s overall health and wellbeing. A great need exists for medical practitioners who are trained and qualified to record, monitor and analyze nervous system function and sleep patterns to support the diagnosis and treatment of various neurological and sleep-related disorders.
Neurodiagnostics
The nervous system can hold critical information about a person’s health and function. Using specialized instruments and procedures, brain and nervous system activity can be measured to help make diagnoses and treatment plans for various neurological issues.
Training in neurodiagnostics can include building knowledge and skills to measure patient nervous system function by recording electrical activity from the brain, spinal cord, nerves and nerve systems using various electroneurodiagnostic technology and techniques, including electroencephalography (EEG), electromyography (EMG), nerve conduction studies (NCS), Intraoperative Neuroscience Monitoring (IONM), and imaging.
Sleep Science
Sleep is an important and sometimes overlooked component of overall health and wellness. In fact, according to the National Sleep Foundation, 65% of adults who are dissatisfied with their sleep experience greater levels of depressive symptoms than those who are satisfied with their sleep. Sleep science, also known as polysomnography, involves the study of sleep disorders, stages of sleep, the biological clock, connections between sleep and health and more.
Doctors and scientists collect information about a patient’s sleep through sleep studies. Training in sleep science involves gaining knowledge and skills to manage a sleep study, including recording and analyzing events observed during sleep.
What do Neurodiagnostics and Sleep Science (NDSS) Technologists Do?
By recording and studying the electrical activity of the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves, neurodiagnostic and sleep science technologists better understand the roles of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems. They expand this understanding through therapeutic procedures such positive airway pressure and supplemental oxygen titration to treat patients with sleep disorders.
NDSS technologists use polysomnography, which records brain waves, blood oxygen levels, heart rate, breathing, and eye and leg movements. Using a process known as scoring, technologists gather information from testing using sensors; this is then inputted into a computer system and displayed on the screen as a series of waveforms. They then analyze the waveforms to determine the patient’s sleep or wake state and to assess for any abnormalities in the physiologic variables recorded.
Common sleep disorders studied by NDSS technologists include insomnia, sleep apnea, narcolepsy, periodic limb movement disorder, hypersomnia, snoring, arousal disorders, sleep-wake transition disorders, circadian rhythm sleep disorders, sleepwalking, restless legs syndrome, and sleep disorders associated with mental disorders, neurological disorders, and other medical disorders.
Technologists perform a variety of tests including:
- Recording sleep studies (polysomnograms or PSG)
- Recording brain wave activity (electroencephalography or EEG)
- Recording responses from peripheral nerve stimulation (nerve conduction studies or NCS)
- Recording stimulus evoked responses from the brain and spinal cord (Evoked Potentials or EP)
- Monitoring brain and spinal cord activity during surgery (intraoperative neurophysiologic monitoring IONM)
Nervous System and Behavioral Treatment Using NDSS Procedures
Neurodiagnostic procedures are used to diagnose conditions such as seizures, epilepsy, congenital and developmental malfunctions, infectious diseases, movement and pain disorders, neuromuscular disorders, toxic and metabolic diseases, nutritional and endocrine disorders, tumors, degenerative disorders and dementia, and vascular disorders.
It is also becoming standard to use these procedures to monitor the brain and spinal cord during surgery to reduce postoperative neurological deficits. Neurodiagnostic and sleep science procedures also aid in the evaluation of disorders such as psychotic disorders, depression and mood disorders, anxiety disorders, and somatoform and dissociative disorders.