THE CARDIORESPIRATORY POLYGRAPHY FOR ASSE SSING RESPIRATORY INSUFFICIENCY IN PATIENTS AFTER CORONARY-BYPASS SURGERY

Background: In intensive care medicine it is well established how to d iagnose respiratory insufficiency caused by cardiopulmonary diseases. However, there is no consensus how to diagnose respiratory insufficien cy which may be caused by extrapulmonary disturbances of the respirato ry apparatus, Patients and Methods: In 5 patients we performed postope ratively a cardio-respiratory polygraphy for 12 to 13 hours using Poly mesam(R). This unit allows to record airflow, respiratory movements of the chest and abdomen, arterial oxygen saturation, heartrate, body po sition and EKG. Results: The present case-series-study demonstrates ch at patients after arterio-coronary bypass surgery may present respirat ory insufficiency caused by extrapulmonary disturbances of the respira tory apparatus (central and obstructive apnea and hyoponea). The respi ratory insufficiency occurs during nighttime even when supplemental ox ygen (2 to 3 l/min) is delivered. Conclusion: We conclude that the car diopulmonary polygraphy for assessing respiratory insufficiency in pat ients after coronary bypass surgery is important, in order to avoid se vere arterial hypoxemia which may produce cardiovascular instability i n these patients.