2005 Volume 69 Issue 11 Pages 1320-1326
Background Sleep-disordered breathing may affect coronary artery disease, so patients treated by percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty were studied to investigate the relationship between nocturnal oxygen desaturation (NOD) and the loss index. Methods and Results The nocturnal oxygen desaturation index (ODI) was determined by means of a pulse oximeter in 35 patients with coronary artery disease treated by stent placement. The patients were divided into 3 groups according to ODI: <5 events/h (group N, n=6), between 5 and 14 events/h (group A, n=19), and ≥15 events/h (group B, n=10). The relationship between the ODI and loss index was examined in each group. The loss index, 0.27±0.23 in group N, 0.30±0.27 in group A, and 0.70±0.32 in group B, differed significantly between groups N and B (p=0.007). In all patients, the loss index showed a significant positive correlation with the ODI (R=0.585, p=0.002). Conclusions These findings suggest that NOD may be an important contributor to coronary restenosis in patients treated with stent placement. (Circ J 2005; 69: 1320 - 1326)