Chandigarh: If someone in your house snores loudly while sleeping and suddenly his breathing stops, then be careful. This is not just a sign of deep sleep, but can also be a serious disease called ‘Sleep Apnea’. A big good news for the medical world is that now you will not have to stand in hospital queues for expensive and complicated tests to identify this dangerous disease. Experts from PGIMER, Chandigarh and Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, Patiala have together developed an indigenous portable device which will prepare a complete account of your health right on your bed at home.
Sleep apnea is a sleep-related problem in which breathing stops for a few seconds due to repeated obstruction in the upper airway while sleeping. Due to this, the oxygen level ($SpO_2$) in the body drops rapidly. If it is not treated timely, it can cause heart disease, high blood pressure and even heart attack during sleep. Till now, ‘Polysomnography’ (PSG) test was used for its diagnosis, for which the patient had to spend the night in the hospital amidst heavy machines and wires, which was not only expensive but also uncomfortable. This technology developed under the guidance of Dr. Sandeep Bansal, Professor of ENT Department of PGI and Dr. Harpreet Singh, Assistant Professor of Thapar Institute, is very modern. Advanced sensors (MAX30102) and ‘Bio-Amp’ technology have been used in this device.
Main points of its functioning:
• Multi-sensor approach: It monitors the patient’s ECG and oxygen levels in real-time.
• Smart Processing: The Raspberry Pi and special software installed in it capture biological signals and analyze them.
• Non-invasive design: There is no need to insert any needle or complex wire on the patient’s body during the test, which does not interfere with natural sleep.
The team of researchers is working on adding Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning to this machine to make it more effective. With this, in the coming time, the machine itself will recognize the pattern of respiratory obstruction and provide accurate data to the doctors.
