Opioid use and sleep apnea should be considered when evaluating postanesthesia care unit desaturations seen after intraoperative use of 100% oxygen

摘要

Thank you for giving us the opportunity to answer the questions raised by Drs. Ifeanyi and Van Meter. In essence, Ifeanyi and Van Meter ask for confounding factors that may have affected the results of our recently published study.Issue: Opioid use in the postanesthesia care unit. No opi-oids were given in the postanesthesia care unit, however, pirtramide 0.lmg/kg was administered before emergence. Piritramide (not used in the United States) has a slightly lower analgesic potency than morphine, but is less respiratory depressing. We wish to thank Ifeanyi and Van Meter for raising this important point, because the piritramide was not mentioned in the article.