This report describes an unusual case of severe obstructive sleep apnea and alveolar hypoventilation leading to hypersomnolence and cor pulmonale, which were corrected by tracheostomy. Four years later, after a 22.5-kg weight gain, nocturnal apneas of similar frequency, duration, and depth of desaturation reappeared but were totally central in origin. The central apneas were eliminated with hom...

BACKGROUND In a clinical study, the role of chronic hypoxia in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or the role of transient hypoxia in patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome were examined for the peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layers. PATIENTS AND METHODS 10 patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease GOLD stages 3 or 4 (4 men and 6 women, age 47 to 71 years...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Echo-planar J-resolved spectroscopic imaging is a fast spectroscopic technique to record the biochemical information in multiple regions of the brain, but for clinical applications, time is still a constraint. Investigations of neural injury in obstructive sleep apnea have revealed structural changes in the brain, but determining the neurochemical changes requires more de...

Although obstructive sleep apnea and cardiovascular disease have common risk factors, epidemiologic studies show that sleep apnea increases risks for cardiovascular disease independently of individuals' demographic characteristics (i.e., age, sex, and race) or risk markers (i.e., smoking, alcohol, obesity, diabetes, dyslipidemia, atrial fibrillation, and hypertension). Individuals with severe s...

Background: Automatic Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (automatic CPAP, APAP) is an effective treatment option for Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome (OSAS). The differentiation of obstructive and central respiratory events is crucial in adjusting the optimal pressure in this treatment mode. In this pilot study we evaluated a new automatic CPAP algorithm in OSAS patients. Methods: Fourteen (14...

STUDY OBJECTIVES Current actigraphic algorithms are relatively less accurate in detecting sleep and wake in sleep apnea patients than in people without sleep apnea. In the current study, we attempted to validate a novel automatic algorithm, which was developed for actigraphic studies in normal subjects and patients with obstructive sleep apnea by comparing it on an epoch-by-epoch basis to stand...

Obstructive sleep apnea is a chronic illness with increasing prevalence. In addition to associated cardiovascular comorbidities, obstructive sleep apnea syndrome has been linked to poor quality of life, occupational accidents, and motor vehicle crashes secondary to excessive daytime sleepiness. Although continuous positive airway pressure is the gold standard for sleep apnea treatment, its effe...

T he potential role of sleep apnea in the pathogenesis and complications of cardiovascular disorders is a notion that recently has gained support.1,2 More specifically, several studies have been performed in order to analyze the association of hypertension in patients with sleep apnea and the potential importance of obstructive sleep apnea as a secondary and possible treatable cause of hyperten...

BACKGROUND In patients with chronic heart failure (CHF), the presence of sleep-disordered breathing, including either obstructive sleep apnea or Cheyne-Stokes respiration-central sleep apnea, is associated with a poor prognosis. A large-scale clinical trial showed that continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) did not improve the prognosis of such patients with CHF, probably because of insuffi...