J U LY 2 0 1 5 O U T P A T I E N TS U R G E R Y. N E T 5 1
I
n 2013, some colleagues and I published a
study (osmag.net/JSK9cx) that called into
question the prevailing attitude that
patients with obstructive sleep apnea are
never good candidates for ambulatory sur-
gery. We looked at 404 OSA patients who'd had out-
patient procedures over a 2-year period, and found
that there hadn't been a single catastrophic compli-
cation. That doesn't mean you should throw your
doors open to every sleep apnea patient, but it does
show that these patients can be managed safely as
long as you keep these important factors in mind.
5 Keys to Managing
Sleep Apnea
Pre-op assessments and taking the proper
precautions on the day of surgery will
help keep these high-risk patients safe.
Reginald F. Baugh, MD
Toledo, Ohio
z STARTING BLOCK Regional anesthesia avoids air-
way trouble by letting patients breathe on their own.
Pamela
Bevelhymer,
RN,
BSN
1. Many people
don't know they
have it.
Sleep apnea
is clearly under-recog-
nized and the undiag-
nosed patient is the one
you need to worry about
most — the big, heavy-
set guy with a short neck
and retrognathic jaw.
He's never been told he
has sleep apnea, but all
the signs are there.
The "STOPBANG" test
(see "The STOPBANG
Obstructive Sleep Apnea
Questionnaire") requires
only a couple of minutes
and is a good place to
start when assessing a
patient's potential sleep
apnea risk. But don't
wait until the day of sur-
gery. If the patient's sick
— and sleep apnea
should be considered a
