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For patients with sleep apnea, a good night’s rest can be elusive.
There are existing treatments for the sleep disorder, in which breathing stops and starts throughout the night. The most common is a CPAP—continuous positive airway pressure—device, which sends a continuous air supply through a mask to keep the airway open. Some patients feel claustrophobic wearing a mask overnight, however, or sleep on their sides, causing the mask to fall off.
“People who can’t use a CPAP are not being treated for their sleep apnea properly,” says Dr. Matthew Marino, an ear-nose-throat surgeon at St. Luke’s Hospital. “Having untreated sleep apnea for a long period of time can be seriously detrimental to long-term health.”
So last August, St. Luke’s became the first in the state to offer a new option: the Inspire device, a nerve stimulator implanted under the skin in an outpatient procedure. When the device detects airway obstruction, it sends stimulation through a nerve in the tongue, causing the tongue to stiffen, thereby opening the airway.
“We get the benefit of treating their sleep apnea without some of the downsides of the other treatments. That’s the main benefit,” Marino says. “You get, generally, a pretty consistent reduction in sleep apnea to almost normal levels in most patients, without all the extra equipment.”
