NEW SLEEP MEDICINE CENTER

The UCSD Medical Center Sleep Center officially opened its doors in January 2005 after relocating to its present site on the 9th Floor at the UCSD Medical Center in Hillcrest. An "Open House" is planned for late April or early May. The Center will participate in Sleep Awareness Week by participating in Sleep Apnea Awareness day on March 31 from 11:00 - 1:00 in the Medical Center Cafeteria. The Center will perform its first attended laboratory based polysomnogram the last week of March.

The UCSD Sleep Medicine Center is a multidisciplinary program which offers a complete spectrum of consultative, diagnostic, and therapeutic interventions for sleep disorders. The resources available to the Center come in the form of expertise in the areas of medicine, psychology and surgical intervention. The Center has proven its expertise in the field of unattended home sleep recordings using state-of-the-art equipment for the diagnosis of sleep apnea in patients strongly suspected of having the disease. The Center also boasts new polysomnography equipment and a board certified polysomnographer to provide comprehensive attended laboratory based sleep recordings for complicated sleep disorders involving mixed pathology. The Center has the capability to provide in-depth consultations on difficult, chronic sleep conditions such as insomnia, parasomnias, narcolepsy, cataplexy, and neuromuscular related disorders.

The Center currently has two attended polysomnography beds and offers a full range of consultative, diagnostic, and therapeutic interventions for sleep disorders associated with either medical or psychiatric conditions. Complete care and follow-up is available to all patients.

The Center will continue to offer unattended home sleep studies which offer a convenient and economical way to diagnose disorders such as sleep apnea. Other services offered by the Center include institution and titration of CPAP, BiPAP, and home non-invasive ventilation (treatments for sleep apnea and neuromuscular disorders with respiratory muscle weakness).

Physicians can schedule unattended home sleep studies, full attended polysomnography, CPAP titrations, consults, and follow-up visits by calling (619) 543-5713. To facilitate the care of your patients, please obtain prior authorization for any sleep studies. For other testing such as multiple sleep latency tests or maintenance of wakefulness testing, discussion with the sleep medicine specialist is recommended before these tests are scheduled.

The Center is committed to bringing awareness of sleep disorders to the community. In upholding their commitment, the faculty at UCSD Sleep Medicine Center is available and often participates in sleep health related talks to community groups (AWAKE Chapter, Rotary Club, etc.) and hospital based grand rounds and lectures. The UCSD Sleep Medicine Center holds as it goal becoming a leader in providing sleep medicine health care, education and research in the greater San Diego area.