Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is one of the important risk factors contributing to postoperative airway complications. OSA alters the respiratory physiology and increases the sensitivity of muscle tone of the upper airway after surgery to residual anesthetic medication. In addition, the prevalence of OSA was reported to be much higher among surgical patients than the general population. Therefo...

Introduction: Capnography, is an easy, fast and practical method which its application in the diagnosis of Pulmonary Thromboendarterectomy (PTE) has recently been studied. This study aimed to assess the diagnostic value of end-tidal CO2 (ETCO2) and the alveolar dead space (AVDS) in the diagnosis of patients suspected to PTE who have been referred to the emergency department. Materials and Metho...

The search for a reliable and accurate respiratory rate monitor for use in non-intubated patients has proved to be a long and fruitless one. A new device fulfilling the criteria for such a monitor has recently been described. The pyroelectric polymer (PEP) device is safe, non-invasive, and cheap. In this study the PEP device, transthoracic impedance, and standard observer counting were all comp...

Finding individual breaths is essential in the classification of respiratory sinus arrhythmia. The identification task may become quite difficult if the sampling rates of available physiological measurements are low, as in the HR3Modul decision support system. We introduce an improved respiration analysis of the HR3Modul system that uses an Euclidian distance based Nearest-Neighbour classificat...

BACKGROUND Handling neonates with postnatal respiratory failure due to congenital airway malformations implies knowledge about emergency management of unexpected difficult airway. In these stressful situations both technical and communication skills of the caretakers are essential. CASE PRESENTATION Two cases with prenatally unknown tracheal agenesis are reported. CONCLUSION In the presente...

Moderate sedation/analgesia, formerly known as “conscious sedation,” is commonly used during bronchoscopy for patients’ comfort and safety around the world. This is mostly because, during the procedure, patients may experience pain, excessive cough, and sensation of asphyxiation. These experiences may lead to anxiety, hypertension, and even arrhythmias. Moreover, they may leave behind an unplea...