The role of compact polysomnography/polygraphy in sleep breathing disorder patients’ management

While managing obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) or suspicious OSA patients, the otorhinolaryngologist frequently has to deal with patients undergoing repeated polysomnography (PSG) or portable monitoring (PM) and, on the other hand, should be confident about the quality and consistency of the polysomnographic diagnosis. The main polysomnographic traces compressed in a unique epoch, defined as compact PSG/PM (CP), which should be reported in all PSG/PM report, could represent an efficient tool to confirm the quality of PSG/PM diagnosis and to recognize the sleep breathing disorders (SBD): OSA, no-OSA SBD and overlap of OSA with no-OSA SBD. In this study, a synthetic and clear guided iconography and an easy decision-making algorithm based on desaturation patterns (phasic, prolonged and overlap desaturation patterns) identifiable on the CP are suggested for a quick check of the quality of PSG/PM diagnosis and to achieve an improvement in the patient’s clinical management.