Mapping Brain Activity During Arousals in Obstructive Sleep Apnea Patients

2018 Focused Projects Grant for Junior Investigators

Junjie Liu, MD, PhD

University of Iowa

Key Project Outcomes

We showed in this pilot study that magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can be used to study patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) during their natural sleep. We conducted functional MRI of the brain and dynamic anatomical MRI of upper airway during natural sleep in 9 patients with OSA. We showed, for the first time, that the functional MRI response to intermittent hypoxia events during sleep is not homogenous across the brain of OSA patients. This finding might help explain how OSA can specifically impair cognitive functions that involve the frontal part of brain.

Meeting Abstracts

SLEEP

Cerebrovascular Response to Intermittent Hypoxia During Sleep in OSA Patients