Obstructive Sleep Apnea Airway Evaluation

Current practice guidelines recommend obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) patients to stay in the post anesthetic care unit (PACU) until the risk of respiratory depression has subsided. Inevitably, a greater demand on hospital resource utilization in these patients will increase health care cost. Polysomnography (PSG) and screening questionnaires can identify OSA but they are limited by accessibility and false positive results, respectively. Inaccurate OSA identification misguides postoperative surveillance plan. In contrast with MRI and CT scans, ultrasound is more accessible and more likely a practical tool for OSA screening. However, before clinical application, airway ultrasound (US) exam must undergo vigorous testing to check its utility, accuracy, inter-observer reliability and its ability to identify OSA and its severity.