以色列推出腕带式Watch-PATREM睡眠监测仪

一种设计用来帮助分析睡眠相关呼吸紊乱的腕带式设备，现在扩大了其用途。美国食品药品管理局已经批准这种设备做为检查快速动眼运动睡眠时相的诊断辅助工具。

在这项批准之前，检查REM睡眠时相的唯一途径是在实验室内整夜多导睡眠描计研究。使用Watch-PAT(外周动脉张力测定法），研究人员发现这套设备能够预测REM睡眠，接近实验室睡眠评估的金标准。Watch-PAT提供了低成本选择，扩大了在家庭或者医院内的诊断检测能力。

REM检查是评估睡眠紊乱的关键部分，但是很难进行检查，如果不使用脑电图、心电图、眼动电图的电极粘贴在患者头部和胸部。

Brigham和妇女医院（波士顿，美国）的睡眠疾病项目主任、哈佛大学医学院睡眠医学教授David P.White医生说：“REM睡眠检查对于诊断睡眠紊乱十分重要，是评估睡眠质量和患者对睡眠呼吸暂停治疗反应的关键因素。”

Watch-PAT是由Technion以色列技术学院(Haifa, Israel)研究人员研制成功的，在哈佛医学院附属睡眠中心以及其它中心进行了检测。Watch-PAT以及其它PAT产品已经由Itamar医学有限公司(Caesarea, Israel)推向了市场。
 
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).