[Snoring and postoperative pulmonary edema]. / Schnarchen und postoperatives Lungenödem.

ABSTRACT

After uneventful ENT surgery, two male patients developed acute upper airway obstruction following extubation which progressed into negative pressure pulmonary edema (NPPE). One of these two patients suffered from known obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome, the other admitted to heavy snoring only after the incident. The pathophysiology of NPPE and the anaesthesiological implications of a patient's history of snoring are discussed.