Tuesday, June 28, 2005

The Future of Sleep Medicine

It is an exciting time for the field of sleep medicine. ICSD-2, the 2nd edition of the International Classification of Sleep Disorders, was introduced at the 19th Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies. In many ways the ICSD-2 is a big improvement over the original ICSD. For example, there are now separate criteria for adult and pediatric obstructive sleep apnea- this is important since adult and pediatric OSA usually have different etiologies (adenotonsilar hypertrophy in kids and obesity/craniofacial abnormalities in adults). Unfortunately, where to draw the line between children and adults is unclear, though most sleep specialists draw it at puberty.
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Another development in sleep medicine is a revision of the R+K scoring manual. There was a lot of debate about the proposed revisions at the 19th Annual Meeting. The new manual should be available in late 2006. The committee revising R+K hopes to simplify the criteria for the ending and beginning of REM sleep. Stage 3+4 will probably be combined into one stage. The scoring of periodic limb movements may be revised. Unfortunately, no one is able to agree on what exactly a "hypopnea" is; and there is little consensus about what if any degree of saturation should be required to score a hypopnea. The lack of a standard definition of a hypopnea limits research into Obstructive sleep apnea, it would be easier to compare studies if there was a standard definition.

Friday, June 17, 2005

I am going on vacation

I am leaving tomorrow morning for the 19th Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies.
I will be getting back late on June 23rd. I don't know if I will have internet access at the meeting. Blogging will be light until the 24th.

Sleep Medicine is now an Official Subspecialty

Sleep medicine gained approval from the American Board of Medical Specialties as an official subspecialty for physicians practicing psychiatry, neurology, internal medicine, and pediatrics in March. This development is expected to further delivery of care to millions of individuals with sleep disorders and foster research and education in the field, said Michael Sateia, M.D., president of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Sateia, a professor of psychiatry, directs sleep medicine at Dartmouth Medical School.
The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) approved program requirements for sleep medicine fellowship training programs in psychiatry, neurology, internal medicine, otolaryngology, and pediatrics in 2004. Information and application forms for ACGME-approved sleep medicine fellowships are posted online at <
www.aasmnet.org/News.aspx?ArticleID=53>.
From Psychiatric News

Thursday, June 16, 2005

Sleep Fellowship

As of yesterday, I am the new program director of the University of Mississippi Medical Center Sleep Disorders Fellowship. I will be using this blog as the official web site of the fellowship, and will be posting the sleep conference schedule on it, as well as tips for passing the sleep boards. The Sleep Fellowship accepts 1 full time fellow per year; requirements include board elgibility in neurology, psychiatry, internal medicine, pediatrics, or otolaryngology. If any physicians have a question about the fellowship or sleep medicine in general, they can post a comment or e-mail me at michaelrack@msn.com. An application for the 2006/2007 academic year can be requested by e-mailing me your (snail-mail) address.