RESUMO
During the 2017 IFOS ENT World Congress, an international expert panel was asked to clarify the role of ENT in the diagnosis process of the obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSA) in adults around the world. OSA is a major public health issue throughout the world. OSA is a highly prevalent disease with heavy clinical, social and economical outcomes. This high prevalence raises serious difficulties of diagnosis accessibility if only somnologists are able to confirm OSA diagnosis. First of all, the panellists reviewed the impact of OSA. Secondly, they defined the ENT role stressing ENT legitimacy, professional expertise and academic and institutional tasks. They also defined when somnologists were necessary. For the international panel, the ENT is a major player in the OSA diagnosis process.