A recent story on NPR News reported that half of all patients win their appeal of denials by health insurance companies.  They told the story of a patient with sleepiness and loud snoring who saw a doctor that recommended a sleep study.  The insurance company denied authorization for the sleep study.  The patient filed an… Read more »

After a successful start to the course, Day 2 began with Allan Pack, MBChB, PhD of the University of Pennsylvania.  Allan had given the final talk of Day 1, in which he delivered a thought-provoking lecture on the future of the field of sleep medicine.  He has campaigned for a shift for the field, like… Read more »

In a blog post from September 2012, I described modifications developed by Italian surgeons of the expansion sphincter pharyngoplasty procedure.  This technique of soft palate surgery for the treatment of obstructive sleep apnea was designed to reduce the risks and enhance the stability of the procedure.  I have received many e-mails and calls from other… Read more »

My website and this blog provide what I hope is an useful educational resource for my patients and others, but I know that many patients with snoring and obstructive sleep apnea will never reach it.  As such, I have contributed to two online resources that reach larger audiences.  I am a content author for sleep… Read more »

Last week, I participated in the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery.  This meeting always includes a number of excellent sessions focused on surgery for snoring and obstructive sleep apnea, and this year was no exception.  My favorite session was a discussion of how surgeons might choose from among the… Read more »

Note: tomorrow I will join the #SleepHealth Twitter chat at 10-11 am PST.  I look forward to the interesting discussion on a wide range of sleep topics. Many medications are evaluated with randomized trials, in which patients with a medical problem are randomized to receive either the medication or a pill that does not contain… Read more »

Readers of this blog should be familiar with my sleep surgery philosophy: individual patients require an individualized approach to selecting procedures and identifying factors that will be associated with results.  Among the predictors of outcomes for palate surgery that have been identified, one of the most important is tonsil size.  Because patients who undergo palate… Read more »

Today’s lectures focused on patient evaluation and treatment with surgery and oral appliances. Dr. Peter Cistulli from the University of Sydney discussed findings from the MASPAP randomized trial conducted in Australia that has recently been accepted for publication in a medical journal.  This study compared mandibular advancement splints (also known as oral appliances) against continuous… Read more »

Note: our 19th Annual Advances in Diagnosis and Treatment of Sleep Apnea and Snoring course will be held on February 15-17, 2013, in Orlando, Florida.  It is the largest course dedicated to snoring and obstructive sleep apnea, and it combines medical and surgical evaluation and treatment in an unique format.  Please do not hesitate to… Read more »

Every July for the past six years, I have been fortunate to travel to Sao Paulo, Brazil, to give lectures at the International Symposium on Snoring and Sleep Apnea at the Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein.  The course is held at one of the top hospitals in Brazil and is organized by excellent, thoughtful surgeons: Drs…. Read more »