Abstract: From early clinical stage to present, textbooks, reference books and even various related literatures and magazines all use the medical term "obstructive sleep apnea syndrome", also known as "obstructive sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome", its English abbreviation is OSAHS. Since the nomenclature of OSAHS does not reflect the pathophysiological characteristics of the disease and its causal relationship, the authors here proposed the nomenclature of " sleep induced upper respiratory failure or obstructive apnea syndrome" (SURFOAS). Through all-round comparison with the former terms, it is believed that SURFOAS can better reveal the main pathophysiological characteristics of the disease, especially from the nomenclature, the location of the obstructed ventilation and obstruction can be clearly identified. Moreover, this article listed many abnormal structural changes (arguments) from the anatomy of the upper respiratory tract of patients with SURFOAS, and further demonstrated the causal relationship between sleep and upper respiratory tract ventilation obstruction or even apnea. Therefore, the proposal and naming of SURFOAS are reasonable and logical in comparison with OSAHS, regardless of horizontal comparison or vertical comparison, and conform to the naming principle of clinical medical diseases, which is relatively more practical for guiding clinical work with basic medical theories.

Key words: Sleep, Upper respiratory tract, Poor ventilation, Obstruction, Apnea