Center for Sleep Medicine

Located on Gonda 17, the Mayo Center for Sleep Medicine (CSM) is a multidisciplinary enterprise comprised of pulmonologists, neurologists, psychiatrists and pediatricians who—with the support of a physician assistant, nurses and polysomnographic technologists—are engaged in a vibrant array of clinical, educational and research activities.

Clinical

In 2008, the CSM established new facilities in the Gonda Building, including a 24-bed recording suite and 21 exam rooms to support the expanding clinical practice. The most commonly encountered conditions include sleep-disordered breathing syndromes, restless legs syndrome, insomnia, parasomnias, hypersomnia (including narcolepsy) and circadian rhythm disturbances. In 2008, physicians and nurses conducted more than 17,000 patient encounters, including over 5,000 new consults and nearly 4,400 polysomnograms were performed. Recent expansion of the clinical practice has included outreach activities supporting sleep diagnostics for regional practices in the Mayo Health System, development of home sleep testing, and a cognitive behavioral therapy program.

Education

The Center for Sleep Medicine has supported a one-year fellowship in Sleep Medicine since the 1980s making it one of the oldest fellowships of its kind in the United States. Applicants come from pulmonary/critical care, neurology, internal medicine and psychiatry training programs. The ACGME accredited program is approved for four fellows. Mayo trainees from pulmonary/critical care, neurology and psychiatry may rotate in the Center for Sleep Medicine. Physician and technical staff of the Sleep Disorders Center also support the Clinical Neurophysiology Technology Training Program of the Mayo School of Health Sciences. In addition to core didactics, the CSM sponsors a weekly multidisciplinary conference, monthly case conferences, sleep medicine rounds and a journal club.

Research

Active intra- and extra-murally funded research activities are ongoing in the diagnosis and treatment of sleep-disordered breathing, cardiovascular implications of sleep-disordered breathing, circadian rhythm disorders, narcolepsy, restless legs syndrome, REM sleep behavior disorder and sleep in degenerative brain disease. Specific active protocols (July 2009) include the study of sleepiness in dementia with Lewy bodies, the effect of treating sleep apnea in dementia, delayed sleep phase disorder in adolescents, nurse-assisted education in improving continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) tolerance, and the use of augmented servo-ventilation to treat complex sleep apnea.