title: History of clinical research on the sleep apnea syndrome. The early days of polysomnography.
abstract: This article gives a brief historical overview of the literature on the sleep apnea syndrome (SAS), including initial case reports of the Pickwickian syndrome and its treatment with tracheostomy. It also highlights the beginnings of early clinical neurophysiology and describes the breakthrough in the understanding of the pathophysiology of SAS by performing polysomnography.
authors.affiliation: Deutsche Klinik für Diagnostik, Wiesbaden, Deutschland.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Kuhl
mesh_terms: D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D008093:Literature, Modern / Q000266:history; D008513:Medicine in Literature; D010845:Obesity Hypoventilation Syndrome / Q000266:history / Q000628:therapy; D017286:Polysomnography / Q000266:history*; D012891:Sleep Apnea Syndromes / Q000266:history* / Q000503:physiopathology; D014139:Tracheostomy / Q000266:history