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Multiple Sleep Latency Test (MSLT)

A sleep laboratory test consisting of a series of 4 or 5 20-minute daytime nap opportunities scheduled at 2-hour intervals, beginning 1.5 to 3 hours after overnight PSG, to measure the physiologic ability or tendency to fall asleep in standardized conditions.18 In diagnosing narcolepsy, the MSLT is used to measure sleep latency and quantifies the number of sleep-onset REM periods (SOREMPs) or the number of nap episodes in which the patient enters REM sleep during nap trials.1,18

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  1. American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Central disorders of hypersomnolence. In: The International Classification of Sleep Disorders – Third Edition (ICSD-3) Online Version. Darien, IL: American Academy of Sleep Medicine; 2014.
  2. Ahmed I, Thorpy M. Clinical features, diagnosis and treatment of narcolepsy. Clin Chest Med. 2010;31(2):371-381.
  3. Pelayo R, Lopes MC. Narcolepsy. In: Lee-Chiong TL, ed. Sleep: A Comprehensive Handbook. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley and Sons, Inc.; 2006:145-149.
  4. Stedman's Medical Dictionary Online. Stedmansonline.com 2020. Accessed June 11, 2020.
  5. Stanford Center for Narcolepsy. Narcolepsy Research - FAQs. http://med.stanford.edu/narcolepsy/faq1.html#3. Accessed June 28, 2018.
  6. Johns MW. A new method for measuring daytime sleepiness: the Epworth sleepiness scale. Sleep. 1991;14(6):540-545.
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  8. Ahmed IM, Thorpy MJ. Clinical evaluation of the patient with excessive sleepiness. In: Thorpy MJ, Billiard M, eds. Sleepiness: Causes, Consequences and Treatment. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press; 2011:36-49.
  9. Guilleminault C, Brooks SN. Excessive daytime sleepiness: a challenge for the practising neurologist. Brain. 2001;124(Pt 8):1482-1491.
  10. Miglis MG, Kushida CA. Daytime sleepiness. Sleep Med Clin. 2014;(4):491-498.
  11. Green PM, Stillman MJ. Narcolepsy. Signs, symptoms, differential diagnosis, and management. Arch Fam Med. 1998;7(5):472-478.
  12. Collop NA, Anderson WM, Boehlecke B, et al; Portable Monitoring Task Force of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Clinical guidelines for the use of unattended portable monitors in the diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea in adult patients. J Clin Sleep Med. 2007;3(7):737-747.
  13. Kapur VK, Auckley DH, Chowdhuri S, et al. Clinical practice guideline for diagnostic testing for adult obstructive sleep apnea: an American Academy of Sleep Medicine clinical practice guideline. J Clin Sleep Med. 2017;13(3):479-504.
  14. España RA, Scammell TE. Sleep neurobiology from a clinical perspective. Sleep. 2011;34(7):845-858.
  15. Scammell TE. Narcolepsy. N Engl J Med. 2015;373(27):2654-2662.
  16. Mahlios J, De la Herrán-Arita AK, Mignot E. The autoimmune basis of narcolepsy. Curr Opin Neurobiol. 2013;23(5):767-773.
  17. Mignot E. History of narcolepsy at Stanford University. Immunol Res. 2014;58(2-3):315-339.
  18. Littner MR, Kushida C, Wise M, et al. Practice parameters for clinical use of the multiple sleep latency test and the maintenance of wakefulness test. Sleep. 2005;28(1):113-121.
  19. Kushida CA, Littner MR, Morgenthaler T, et al. Practice parameters for the indications for polysomnography and related procedures: an update for 2005. Sleep. 2005;28(4):499-521.
  20. Plazzi G, Serra L, Ferri R. Nocturnal aspects of narcolepsy with cataplexy. Sleep Med Rev. 2008;12(2):109-128.
  21. Brown RE, Basheer R, McKenna JT, Strecker RE, McCarley RW. Control of sleep and wakefulness. Physiol Rev. 2012;92(3):1087-1187.
  22. Roth T, Dauvilliers Y, Mignot E, et al. Disrupted nighttime sleep in narcolepsy. J Clin Sleep Med. 2013;9(9):955-965.
  23. Dauvilliers Y, Lopez R. Parasomnias in narcolepsy with cataplexy. In: Baumann CR, Bassetti CL, Scammell TE, eds. Narcolepsy: Pathophysiology, Diagnosis, and Treatment. New York, NY: Springer Science+Business Media; 2011:291-300.
  24. Andlauer O, Moore H, Jouhier L, et al. Nocturnal rapid eye movement sleep latency for identifying patients with narcolepsy/hypocretin deficiency. JAMA Neurol. 2013;70(7):891-902.
  25. Bassetti CL. Spectrum of narcolepsy. In: Baumann CR, Bassetti CL, Scammell TE, eds. Narcolepsy: Pathophysiology, Diagnosis, and Treatment. New York: Springer Science+Business Media, LLC; 2011:309-319.
  26. Sturzenegger C, Bassetti CL. The clinical spectrum of narcolepsy with cataplexy: a reappraisal. J Sleep Res. 2004;13(4):395-406.
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