What is the History of Sleep Apnea?
Sir William Olser in 1918 first used a term he invented, “Pickwickian”, to describe patients who were both obese and hyper-somnolent. Olser was obviously a reader of Charles Dickens as the Dickens novel Pickwick Papers had a character in it that was similar to the patients he had identified with these common symptoms. Around 1956, Dr. Burwell was treating patients who often had congestive heart failure, extreme sleepiness or fatigue, as well as improper airflow to the lungs; or respiratory failure. He termed these types of patients as having Pickwickian Syndrome. Early Diagnosis and Treatment In 1965 a group of French and German doctors lead by Dr. Gastaut started doing research on what is now called Obstructive Sleep Apnea, and recorded breathing and sleeping patterns of a patient with Pickwickian Syndrome and discovered distinctively unique patterns of the 3 types of apneas. Beginning in 1969 OSA (Obstructive Sleep Apnea) was often treated with a tracheostomy; bypassing the upper air
