Feasibility of novel smartphone app-based pulse oximetry system compared with proprietary level 4 home sleep testing device for obstructive sleep apnea detection

Abstract

Last September 14, 2020, Professor Pol Hans (Figure) passed away after a long disease. We, the authors of this letter, had the privilege of professionally running alongside him for several years, and want here to underline his tremendous contribution to the anesthesia and intensive care specialty, in Belgium and outside Belgium. Professor Hans was not only an excellent clinician, always attentive to the needs and safety of patients, an excellent scientist, but also a rare teacher for youngers, and a real mentor for a lot of us. In this short synopsis, we would like to retrace his career, his accomplishments, and depict the extraordinary colleague and friend he was. This is the least we can do to honor his memory. We will honestly do this with our own perception of the character, and might therefore miss some elements of his personality. We apologize in advance for any undesirable omission. Pol Hans was born in 1949. He graduated as a Medical Doctor at the University of Liege in 1975, and was immediately selected by Professor Marcel Hanquet to start a residency in anesthesiology and resuscitation. He obtained his specialist degree in 1979, and rapidly became one of the most faithful and brilliant collaborator of the Department of Anesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine of the Liege University Hospital, first exerting his clinical activity in the ‘Baviere’ Hospital, thereafter moving to the ‘Citadelle’ Regional Hospital until his retirement in 2011. He also practiced anesthesiology at the ‘André Renard’ Clinic, where he was the Head of the Anesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine Department. From the beginning, his main clinical focus of interest was the perioperative and anesthetic management of neurosurgical patients. He was among the pioneers in this domain, and he contributed a lot to its development in Belgium and abroad. His reputation was based on prolific clinical and basic research, which led to a PhD in 1983 and a total of more than 180 papers in national and international peer-reviewed journals, as well as 19 book chapters. His reputation was also sustained by his involvement in scientific societies such as the European Society of Anesthesiology, the ‘Association de Neuroanesthésie-Réanimation de Langue Française’, and the Society for Neuroscience in Anesthesia and Critical Care, and on innumerable invited conferences all over the (Acta Anaesth. Belg., 2020, 71, 105-106)