So far, nothing rivals the CPAP machine for treating obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), a disorder that causes lapses in breathing throughout the night and robs people of oxygen and sleep. But for some of the estimated 30 million sufferers, the apparatus required – which includes headgear, face mask and a protruding tube anchored to a bedside machine – can be intolerable.
For people who try and fail the first-line continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) treatment, there are options. Alternative therapies range from lifestyle changes for mild cases to major surgeries for more severe sleep apnea. But one alternative that generates a lot of questions for Katherine Green, MD, assistant professor in the Department of Otolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, involves a tiny implant and a remote control and is widely advertised on TV.
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Green, medical director of the University of Colorado Sleep Center at the CU Anschutz Medical Campus, was the first surgeon in the Denver area in 2016 to offer Inspire, an electrical stimulation device that keeps the airway open at night for some patients with OSA. Unlike the less common central sleep apnea, where brain signals that control breathing fail, OSA results when over-relaxed muscles of the throat block the airway.
“Other treatment options for sleep apnea beyond positive pressure technology are more invasive, so they all carry some potential risks or complications, and they all have much more variable outcomes,” Green said. “But they are options for that approximately 30% of patients who cannot use positive pressure therapies.”