Wondering how to learn more about sleep apnea surgery? The first step is seeing a surgeon so you can discuss sleep apnea surgery directly, especially if you are not responding to first-line sleep apnea treatment options. Obstructive sleep apnea is the blockage of breathing occurring during sleep. First-line options include conservative measures (weight loss when… Read more »
Sleep Apnea
Sleep Apnea Surgery: Old (DISE) and New (Nyxoah Genio)
How has sleep apnea surgery changed over time? We share two key sources of change: drug-induced sleep endoscopy (DISE) and the Nyxoah Genio hypoglossal nerve stimulation system. DISE is a sleep apnea surgery evaluation tool that helps surgeons develop a targeted, effective sleep apnea surgery plan, improving outcomes. It is recommended in many patients considering… Read more »
Can AI improve sleep apnea surgery care?
Are you interested in ways that AI can improve sleep apnea surgery? So am I! I just returned from a sleep apnea surgery course where there was a tremendous amount of discussion about how artificial intelligence (AI) revolutionizing medicine now and in the years to come. After decades of optimism (from others) and pessimism (from… Read more »
Sleep Apnea Surgery Research: Improving Results
Why should patients care about sleep apnea surgery research? Because high-quality research improves outcomes in sleep apnea surgery! Sleep apnea surgery has been the focus of my entire career, now spanning over 20 years since completing all my training. Given that I have entered what I would consider the middle stage of a sleep apnea… Read more »
Being First Is Not Always Best in Sleep Apnea Surgery
Tonight, I was so fortunate to have dinner together with some French sleep apnea surgery colleagues. This included some of the most prominent surgeons in the world who are also long-time friends: Dr. Frederic Chabolle and Dr. Marc Blumen. It was a wonderful chance to share experiences and think about the future of sleep surgery…. Read more »
31st Annual Advances in Diagnosis and Treatment of Sleep Apnea and Snoring Highlights
It is time again for a post about highlights from our annual sleep apnea and snoring course. This year, we had over 200 in attendance, and I learned so much from colleagues. I always focus on nonsurgical topics because this course uniquely combines surgical and nonsurgical content, with the nonsurgical talks often including information that…
In some ways, the throat can be loosely defined as a tube for breathing, swallowing, and speaking. During wakefulness, the muscles that surround the throat have a certain level of activation that keeps the throat open. During sleep, there is a decrease in the level of nerve signals that activate muscles in the body. In… Read more »Lipofuscin and muscle dysfunction in sleep apnea
Anteroposterior and Lateral Epiglottis-Related Obstruction in OSA
Drug-induced sleep endoscopy (DISE) has demonstrated that some patients may have the epiglottis playing a significant role in contributing to their obstructive sleep apnea, separate from other structures like the tongue or oropharyngeal lateral walls that secondarily cause airway obstruction behind the epiglottis. The VOTE Classification that Winfried Hohenhorst, Nico de Vries, and I developed…
NOTE: I was a paid Nyxoah consultant, reviewing preoperative drug-induced sleep endoscopy videos for their clinical trials. Based on this work, I was a coauthor on the paper reporting results of the DREAM trial. I have written previously about the Genio system from Nyxoah and aura6000 system from Livanova, including an update on their clinical trials…
Hypoglossal nerve stimulation has been a major breakthrough in the treatment of obstructive sleep apnea for patients unable to tolerate positive airway pressure therapy. Inspire Medical Systems had the first technology approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in 2014, and I was the first surgeon in the Western United States to offer this…
Nyxoah Genio: DREAM Study Results and FDA Approval!
Inspire V System now available at UCLA
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