Case 2 involved a 65-year-old man with no known medical history and a diagnosis of rectal cancer. He had a BMI of 20.3kg/m2, an ESS score of 2, and was scheduled for a laparoscopic 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: 22/hr, AI: 0/hr, HI: 22/hr; ODI: 3/hr, min. SpO2 86%, and max. HR: 108/min. A decision was made for postoperative ICU follow-up of the patient.\nFollowing the two-hour long surgery, the intubated patient was admitted to the ICU, where he was extubated at the second hour and given O2 mask support (5L/min). The results of the apnea test conducted on the operation day between 00:00 and 06:00 am were as follows: AHI: 38/hr, AI: 0/hr, HI: 38/hr, ODI: 1/hr, min. SpO2: 81%, and max. HR: 101/min. It was decided that he should be scheduled for postoperative non-invasive mechanical ventilation (NIMV) support (Table ).
Case 3 involved a 78-year-old woman with a medical history of COPD, HT, and diabetes mellitus (DM). Her BMI score was 25.2kg/m2. She had presented to the emergency department with hypoxia, hypercapnia, tachypnea, and dyspnea, and was admitted to the ICU with a diagnosis of pneumonia. She was followed-up on in the ICU for five days, during the first two of which she was given NIMV support intermittently during the day and continuously at night. She received nasal O2 support for the following three days, and on day four she performed an apnea test between 00:00 and 06:00 am under an O2 mask (5L/min), which yielded the following results: AHI: 18/hr, AI: 8/hr, HI: 10/hr, ODI: 5/hr, min. SpO2 72%, and max. HR 102/min. It was decided that she should be scheduled to be discharged on bilevel positive airway pressure (BIPAP) support (Table ).