The Inspire Sleep Apnea Implant is a medical device that is implanted in to the body for the treatment of snoring and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) syndrome.
Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome
Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome is a disease due to relapsing episodes of anti snoring. This is the condition where breathing stops for more than 10 seconds, during which oxygen saturation in the blood is reduced by more than 4%.
OSA syndrome occurs during sleep, once the muscles of upper airways relax, evoking the obstruction of the respiratory system. This leads to deterioration of blood oxygenation and provokes short unconscious wake-up episodes through the entire night. An unhealthy pattern of sleep places stress on the body, causing increased blood circulation pressure and development of severe diseases. The diseases due to OSA could be physical, such as hypertension, myocardium infarction and stroke. They could also be mental, including depression, chronic fatigue syndrome, loss of memory and concentration.
Before any treatment, a sleep study or perhaps a polysomnography is necessary. The polysomnography calculates the apnea index, which is the frequency of apnea episodes during one hour of sleep and determines the severe nature of the disease. The apnea index is known as significant if you can find more than 20 apnea episodes per hour, whatever the presence or absence of clinical symptoms.
The gold standard of treatment for OSA syndrome is CPAP-therapy. However, CPAP therapy is not for everyone as many folks think it is uncomfortable to sleep with the mask on the face and the device itself could be loud, especially since it commonly sits close to the head. ufa Only 25% of patients can use CPAP-therapy for an extended period of time.
Therefore, recently Inspire Medical Systems Inc. has come up with a very effective solution with the Inspire Sleep Apnea Implant.
How The Inspire Sleep Apnea Implant Works
The Inspire Sleep Apnea Implant is really a battery operated device that promotes electrostimulation of the sublingual nerve. The battery life is approximately a decade.
The main unit of this device is placed under the skin, on leading right side of the chest and it monitors the phase of breathing. Another electrode is implanted for stimulation of the sublingual nerve, which creates muscle tension. This opens top of the airways and allows the tongue to stick out, and helps keep the airways open while asleep.
As well as the two electrodes, this device also contains a handy small remote switch, which actually turns on the device before sleep and switches it off once awake. This disables the electrodes from disturbing the processes of communication and eating during the active phase of your day, when a person needs physiological narrowing of the larynx and tongue movements for these processes.
The individual may feel light involuntary contractions of the larynx, or tongue movements during initial use of these devices. These movements do not cause pain, instead just a minor discomfort. These unpleasant effects disappear after the first few uses of these devices.
Generally, the implant should be checked 1 or 2 2 times per year. However, according to the situation, an Inspire therapy-trained doctor may consult patients more or less often.
The Inspire Sleep Apnea Implant is only suitable for:
Patients who are a lot more than 22 years old.
Patients who’ve been diagnosed with moderate or severe obstructive sleep apnea syndrome.
Patients with an apnea index in the number of 20 to 65.
Patients who are uncomfortable with using CPAP therapy or did not have the desired effect.
Patients with a body mass index of significantly less than 32.
Body mass index (BMI) = weight (kg) / height^2 (m2).
An individual with a weight of 80 kg and a height of 170 cm has
BMI = 80kg / (1.7m ^ 2) = 80 / 2.89 = 27.68 kg/ m2
The Inspire ANTI SNORING Implant could potentially replace CPAP therapy as ‘the gold standard’ of treatment for obstructive sleep apnea syndrome. A study by Dr. Ryan J. et al. shows that after implantation of the Inspire Sleep Apnea Implant, snoring is greatly decreased. A percentage of “no” or “soft” snoring changed from 22% at start of the treatment to 88% at 12 months and 91% at 24 months after the treatment. Also, the apnea index was reduced from 31 to 14. 82% of the patients in the analysis reported a nightly use of this therapy for five years. Therefore, it really is evident that this method is highly effective and simple to use!