How does sleep apnea or airway obstruction affect anesthesia?
People who exhibit obstructive airway problems when sleeping will be especially prone to airway obstruction under sedation and anesthesia. Patients under sedation and anesthesia lose protective airway reflexes (like the cough reflex and gag reflex) and muscle tone, thereby causing airway tissues to come together and briefly close. For people with airway tissues already prone to collapsing during natural sleep states, the loss of airway reflexes under anesthesia is a guarantee of obstruction. Obstructed airways are dangerous because they do not allow delivery of oxygen to the lungs; airways that remain obstructed can be deadly. Anesthesiologists are, therefore, trained to alleviate airway obstruction by many methods, including intubation (the placement of a breathing tube into the trachea, or windpipe). In rare circumstances, an incision into the neck and trachea (e.g. tracheotomy or cricothyrotomy) may be necessary to establish an open airway. Some studies suggest that more than 75% of
