Dr. Kezirian’s Blog

  I had the opportunity to participate in the American Thoracic Society 2015 meeting over the past few days as part of two sessions: a day-long course on the connection between anesthesia and sleep (especially obstructive sleep apnea) and a symposium on personalized medicine for sleep apnea.  My talks focused on the personalized medicine approach to… Read more »

Many medical treatments have high initial costs but are considered worthwhile expenses because of the benefits, both direct (improved health and quality of life) and indirect (decreased healthcare spending from avoidance of complications).  For treatments such as kidney dialysis, cardiac pacemakers, and organ transplantation, we as a society are willing to pay for treatments with… Read more »

My previous blog post briefly discussed the International Surgical Sleep Society, the world’s preeminent organization dedicated to the surgical evaluation and treatment of obstructive sleep apnea and snoring.  Founded in 2006, the ISSS has organized six scientific meetings to bring together experts in sleep surgery from around the world, facilitating the sharing of experiences and ideas… Read more »

The subspecialty of snoring and sleep apnea surgery is relatively young, and people ask me all the time how I was drawn to the field.  I was fortunate enough to have my own interest sparked as a medical student at the University of Pennsylvania.  As medical students, we were all a little sleep-deprived (and more… Read more »

Here are some highlights from Days 2 and 3 of our sleep apnea and snoring course: Gary Foster, PhD, a long-time faculty member at Temple University and more recently the C0-Chief Scientific Officer at Weight Watchers, showed new studies evaluating the benefits of weight loss in improving moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea, providing evidence… Read more »

I am writing from Orlando and the 21st Annual Advances in Diagnosis and Treatment of Sleep Apnea and Snoring course, for which I am a Co-Director.  We were so happy to have close to 200 attendees for the 3 day meeting, reflecting the strong interest in sleep apnea and snoring among physicians and dentists from… Read more »

If you have side effects from oral appliances and want to consider sleep apnea surgery instead, you can schedule an in-person visit or telehealth video consultation with Dr. Kezirian. Surgery for snoring and sleep apnea has potential risks and side effects.  As a surgeon writing this post, I feel like I have to emphasize that there… Read more »

Last week, I gave a lecture to our residents about the risks of medical complications after surgery in patients with obstructive sleep apnea.  It brought back memories of some studies about the risks of surgery in which I was involved and highlighted two recent studies of the risks of surgery published last month in journals… Read more »

This study and others are included in my video discussion of the Inspire Medical Systems Upper Airway Stimulation system that I have posted on Youtube. One of the distinctive aspects of the Inspire Medical Systems STAR Trial was the short-term withdrawal of therapy from some patients.  The November 2014 issue of the medical journal Otolaryngology–Head… Read more »

At the Keck Medical Center of USC, we were the first center in the Western US offering the Inspire Medical Systems Upper Airway Stimulation system for the treatment of obstructive sleep apnea.  With greater awareness of patients about health conditions and cutting-edge therapies, I have received many requests for information.  Based on these requests, I… Read more »