New Research in Canada recommends Sleep Apnea Screening Prior to Surgery
DR SHAPIRA IS A FIRM BELIEVER IN UNIVERSAL SCREENING FOR SLEEP APNEA AND HAS ESTABLISHED SLEEP WELL ILLINOIS LLC . Sleep Well sets up sleep apnea screening programs in physicians offices utilizing paper questionaires and home sleep studies. Reserch has shown how dangerous sleep apnea is and Dr Shapira believes the time for universal screening has arrived.
According to the study “A Matched Cohort Study of Postoperative Outcomes in Obstructive Sleep Apnea: Could Preoperative Diagnosis and Treatment Prevent Complications?” published in Anesthesiology.
This important study compared the postoperative outcomes in 4,211 patients with OSA. The comparison was whether they were diagnosed with sleep apnea before or after surgery compared to a matched control group of patients who did not have the sleep apnea. Those who were diagnosed with OSA prior to surgery were prescribed treatment with CPAP therapy.
“OSA is a common disorder that affects millions and is associated with an increased risk of surgical complications, but the condition often goes unrecognized,” according to lead author Thomas Mutter, MD from the department of anesthesia and perioperative medicine in the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada. “As many as 25 percent of surgical patients may have OSA, but the vast majority of these patients aren’t treated or don’t know they have the disorder.”
The study showed that patients with untreated OSA were at an increased risk of developing cardiovascular complications and more importantly that patients who were diagnosed and had their sleep apnea treated before surgery were less than half as likely to experience cardiovascular complications such as cardiac arrest or shock. While this study was done with CPAP it is well established that oral appliances will have siilar effects. This would also hold true for respiratory complications that were also twice as common in patients with sleep apnea.
