Intensive Hospital Care Unnecessary After Sleep Apnea Surgery
A new study shows that patients no longer need to be placed in the intensive care unit after surgery for obstructive sleep apnea. Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a sleep disorder that causes a person to stop breathing for a brief period while asleep. The sleep disorder is known to place sufferers at risk for heart problems, hypertension, and stroke.
The usual treatment for OSA consists of weight reduction and the use of the continuous positive airway (CPAP) device. However, if the case has something to do with physical blockage of the airways like an enlarged tonsil, then surgery is required. Since surgery by itself may be risky, patients are often placed in the hospital intensive care unit afterwards.
Researchers from the Pacific Sleep Centre in Singapore studied nearly 500 sleep apnea patients and who had surgery between 2007 and 2010. The research was published in the Archives of Otolaryngology – Head & Neck. The procedures examined within the study are tongue and nasal surgery. The study concludes that only 7% of patients had complications.
Though an ICU admission may not be necessary for those who have had sleep apnea surgery, it is still necessary to monitor the patient for a minimum of 3 hours. Sleep apnea sufferers who undergo surgery will result in smaller jaws which can be difficult for anaesthesiologists to access the airway. Slow breathing due to the anesthesia is another risk for the patient. Thus, clinicians must monitor sleep apnea surgery patients for a limited period of time to monitor these potential complications, but a full ICU stay is not required.
Another EENT sleep specialist from the Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, Dr. Lisa Liberatore, stressed that sleep apnea patients may have other health issues that the surgery can put at risk. She said doctors should be very careful when recommending surgical means and should try the more non-invasive methods first. She said losing weight and CPAP usage often is enough to cure sleep apnea.
