No more sleepless nights for most Americans experiencing sleep apnea as Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently gave its nod to the solution for their nighttime breathing woes.
Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA), or simply sleep apnea, affects about 18 million Americans, according to the National Sleep Foundation and if left untreated, sleep apnea could increase chances of heart attack, stroke, high blood pressure, heart failure, and obesity.
The device developed by Inspire Medical Systems targets the main root of sleep apnea: too much relaxed tongue and throat muscles. When this happens, the main passageway of air is blocked, prompting patients to wake up in the middle of sleep.
Lack of sleep is not at all good, as it trims down a person capability to think properly during the day. Most of the times, patients are easily irritated, depressed more often, and getting more tired quickly. Worse, it may put a person in danger such as falling asleep while driving.
What the device does is tickle these relaxed muscles a bit with a zap of electricity. A tiny generator is implanted in the upper chest region, very much like a pacemaker used for heart monitoring, that is connected to a lead attached to the throat. Should it detect irregular breathing patterns, the system would transmit electricity to the throat. A portable hand-held remote controls the Inspire device.
"This therapy represents a major advance in sleep apnea treatment for some patients who are unable to use or tolerate CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) therapy," said Meir Kryger, MD, professor, Yale School of Medicine. "Patients with moderate to severe OSA who are not on effective treatment are at an increased risk for cardiovascular disease, accidents and death. There is a significant need for safe, effective and well-tolerated new treatments in the sleep medicine field."
Before the Inspire device, patients with sleep apnea disorders opt for CPAP, which uses special masks to supply blow air through the nose, keeping airways open. However, previous studies showed that half of the patients do not always use the CPAP because the masks do not fit well and they sometimes leak, hence adding more discomfort to them during sleep time.
A study published in New England Journal of Medicine early this year was conducted in developing the device and results showed that patients who had Inspire devices posted a significant 68 percent decrease in apnea events and 70 percent decline in oxygen desaturation events.
