ANESTHETIC IMPLICATION OF OBSTRUCTIVE SLE EP-APNEA

Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is a relatively common disease and is c haracterized by defective airway control during sleep, As its symptoms may be accentuated by anaesthesia, providing anaesthesia for OSA-pati ents poses quite a challenge to the anaesthesiologist, Airway manageme nt after induction of anaesthesia and after extubation can be difficul t due to complete airway obstruction. A reduced drive to breathe can f urther complicate the situation in the recovery room. Furthermore, hyp oxic and hypercarbic stress during apnoea can result in cardiac arrhyt hmias, myocardial and brain ischemia or-even frank cardiac failure, Th us, each patient with a history of snoring or OSA requires special att ention. The anaesthesiologist must be prepared for OSA-inherent compli cations in order to be able to respond adequately, Perioperative manag ement should be aimed at preventing asphyxic episodes and alleviating the harmful consequences of apnoea in order to prevent exposing the pa tient to an additional risk.