Panel discussion: The role of pharmacotherapy connected to OSA pathophysiological traits

The pathophysiology of OSA is complex and multi-factorial. Different pathophysiological traits of sleep disordered breathing have been identified, including upper airway muscle function and regulation of breathing. The current gold standard treatment for OSA is CPAP but optimal adherence with CPAP remains an important issue. Several existing and newly developed pharmacological agents can have an impact on one or more of the pathophysiological traits and could therefore become new treatment options for OSA to be used alone or as part of combination treatment. It is important to explain how to identify these different traits and how to match the choice of pharmacological therapy with a specific trait.

Educational aims

• To describe recent advancements in pharmacotherapy for patients with sleep disordered breathing.
• To summarize different pathophysiological traits, including upper airway muscle function and regulation of breathing and explain how to proceed with the pharmacological approach.

Topics

1. The role of pharmacotherapy on improving upper airway muscle function.
2. Therapeutic interventions targeting loop gain and breathing regulation.

Format

Two presentations followed by panel discussion, with Prof. Dries Testelmans as moderator.

Learning outcomes

Following this webinar, participants will:

1. understand and be able to evaluate the role of upper airway muscle function and regulation of breathing as pathophysiological traits of sleep disordered breathing;
2. be updated about the recent advancements in pharmacotherapy for patients with sleep disordered breathing.

What is a webinar?

A webinar closely simulates a lecture-based teaching experience. The speaker can interact with the audience, just as in a classroom setting. During the webinar, you will be asked to share your opinion on issues related to the topic using interactive polls.

All participants will be able to hear the lecturer and see the slides throughout the presentation. As a participant you will be able to pose questions or discuss ideas with the other participants via the text chat facility and the speaker will respond to the questions via the microphone.

Login guidelines

More information will be communicated in due course.

• Please log in to the webinar 20 minutes before it is scheduled to commence. If you have any technical difficulties whilst trying to log in or during the session please contact e-learning@ersnet.org.
• Check Central European Summer Time.
• To achieve the best quality, we recommend to avoid downloading anything from the internet during your connection to the lecture and stopping all other programmes.
• Please also ensure that your audio settings are not set to mute and adjust the volume to a comfortable level.