Sleep Review explores orexin testing for narcolepsy with Joshua Bornhorst, Ph.D.

By Tracy Will • November 4, 2020

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Orexin testing — a valuable tool that can help clinicians diagnose and differentiate type 1 narcolepsy from other forms of the sleep disorder — is now available through Mayo Clinic Laboratories.

Joshua Bornhorst, Ph.D., co-director of Mayo's Clinical Immunoassay Laboratory and Metals Laboratory, recently discussed orexin testing for an article published in Sleep Review. He described its role in the diagnosis of type 1 narcolepsy and explained the significance of this test being widely accessible via Mayo Clinic Laboratories.

"Although the diagnostic criteria for type 1 narcolepsy in the 2013 International Classification of Sleep Disorders includes evaluation of orexin cerebrospinal fluid concentrations, clinical testing for orexin has not been previously broadly available in the United States," Dr. Bornhorst says.

"For the first time in the United States, non-Mayo clinicians from across the country are able to directly show a deficiency of orexin using a reference laboratory-validated assay." 

In the article, Dr. Bornhorst also describes when orexin testing should be considered, as well as other assessments the test needs to be combined with in order to reach an accurate diagnosis.

Read the full article.

Tracy Will

Tracy Will is a senior marketing specialist at Mayo Clinic Laboratories where she covers innovation, specialty testing, and advances in laboratory medicine. Tracy has worked at Mayo Clinic since 2016.