An Ultra-miniaturized Near Infrared Spectroscopy System to Assess Sleep Apnea in Children with Down Syndrome

摘要

Down syndrome is one of the health disorders that interferes with regular and healthy sleep. Most children with Down syndrome are referred to a sleep clinic for the assessment of the severity of their apnea. Regular polysomnography based assessment of apnea has been challenging with this sensitive patient population. We present our efforts towards developing a flexible adhesive bandage sized near infrared spectroscopy system (pediBand) for home-assessment of apnea in children with Down syndrome. Combined with inertial measurement units, pediBand record heart rate, heart rate variability, respiratory rate, arterial oxygen saturation and cerebral oxygen saturation. These are the essential parameters to assess sleep apnea and could also potentially be used in the assessment of sleep performance in general. A modified version of pediBand system was evaluated on adult patients and successfully demonstrated the changes in hemodynamic system triggered by sleep apnea.