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C H A L L E N G I N G
I N T U B A T I O N S
BIG PROBLEM Obese patients may present for surgery with
obstructive sleep apnea, making intubation more difficult.
How to Handle
Obstructive Sleep Apnea
Head off airway and other risks posed by
this relatively common disorder.
Girish P. Joshi, MBBS, MD, FFARCSI | Dallas, Texas
C
an you perform surgery on obstructive sleep apnea patients in
the outpatient setting? Yes, absolutely. But should you? That
answer is a little more complicated. You can consider patients
with known or presumed diagnoses of OSA and optimized comorbid
medical conditions for ambulatory surgery, so long as you follow these
guidelines from the Society for Ambulatory Anesthesia OSA task force
during each phase of surgery.
D E C E M B E R 2012 | O U T PAT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E
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