[Opportunities for diagnosis and treatment of nocturnal hypoxia in outpatient clinic].

Sleep disordered breathing is an important medical and socio-economic issue. A lot of evidence exists for the impact of sleep apnea on the pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases, occupational injuries, as well as all-cause mortality. Detection of this type of pathology is challenging due to the complexity and high cost of the procedures. The nocturnal polysomnography was considered as a "gold standard" in the management of any sleep disorders for a long time. However, the development of technology simplified diagnostic equipment and make it possible to diagnose sleep disordered breathing in outpatient department. In this article we reviewed 3-phase approach to the diagnosis and treatment of sleep apnea. Also we describe our own cost-effective experience of implementing of screening examination for sleep apnea in outpatient clinic, using the continuous pulse oximetry monitoring.