A photonics-based approach offers a promising alternative method for assessing and treating the problems associated with sleep apnea, reports Optics.org.

The team of researchers implemented DCS to study cerebral hemodynamic responses to a head-of-bed position change in a group of patients with OSA with different levels of severity, and compared their cerebral hemodynamics to a control group of healthy subjects.

The device, which uses Diffuse Correlation Spectroscopy, measured CBF at a microvascular level, a major improvement compared to TCD that can only measure at a macro-vascular level.