[Should cardiologist routinely screen and evaluate patients for sleep disordered breathing?].
We report a case of a 61-year-old male patient who presented with reduced exercise capacity, dyspnea, lower limbs oedema,irregular heart rhythm, loud, irregular snoring, history of poorly controlled hypertension, nocturnal hypertension spikes, andmorning headaches. Patient underwent ECG Holter monitoring and polygraphy, which revealed severe obstructive sleepapnea. In ECG Holter monitoring atrial fibrillation with pauses to 6.5 s were observed. Patient was referred for continuouspositive airway pressure (CPAP) treatment. Three-months of CPAP therapy resulted in significant decrease in apnea-hypopneaindex (31.6/h vs. 5.1/h) and better control of hypertension and heart failure. CPAP treatment allowed us to reduce patient's cardiovascular risk. Cardiologist should routinely screen and evaluate patients for sleep disordered breathing, especially when patients are obese, have hypertension and/or arrhythmias.
I Katedra i Klinika Kardiologii, Warszawski Uniwersytet Medyczny, Warszawa. filip.szymanski@wum.edu.pl.
Filip M
FM
Szymański
Grzegorz
G
Karpiński
Anna E
AE
Płatek
Grzegorz
G
Opolski
D001281:Atrial Fibrillation / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D045422:Continuous Positive Airway Pressure; D004562:Electrocardiography; D015716:Electrocardiography, Ambulatory; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000209:etiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D012891:Sleep Apnea Syndromes / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy*