Case 1 involved a 70-year-old man with a medical history of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), hypertension (HT), and rectal cancer. He had a body mass index (BMI) of 28.3kg/m2 and a score of 2 on Epworth sleepiness scale (ESS) and was scheduled for an open abdominal surgery. One day prior to the surgery, he performed an apnea test (via ApneaLink™) between 00:00 and 06:00 am which yielded the following results: AHI: 17/hr, AI: 3/hr, HI: 14/hr; ODI: 3/hr, minimum SpO2 (min. SpO2) 79%, and maximum HR (max. HR): 124/min. A decision was made for postoperative ICU follow-up of the patient.\nFollowing the three-hour long surgery, the intubated patient was admitted to the ICU, where he was extubated four hours later and given O2 mask support (5L/min). The results of an apnea test conducted on the operation day between 00:00 and 06:00 am were as follows: AHI: 21/hr, AI: 4/hr, HI: 17/hr, ODI: 1/hr, min. SpO2: 84%, and max. HR:131/min. It was decided that he should be scheduled for postoperative noninvasive mechanical ventilation (NIMV) support (Table ).
Case 6 involved a 79-year-old man with a medical history of myocardial infarction, HT, and cardiac insufficiency. He had a BMI of 20.8 kg/m2 and presented to the emergency department with spasms and sudden loss of consciousness. He was admitted to the ICU after a right middle cerebral artery (MCA) infarction was detected in his cranial diffusion MRI. He was followed-up on in the ICU for 16 days and he was tracheostomized on day 11. He performed the apnea test with the tracheostomy mask (5L/min O2) on day 15 between 00:00 and 06:00 am. The results were as follows: AHI 34/hr, AI: 3/hr, HI: 31/hr, ODI: 7hr, min. SpO2: 79%, and max HR: 97/min. It was decided that he should be scheduled to be discharged as tracheostomized, with home care conditions assured under home ventilator support (Table ).