UH Case Medical Center offers a new treatment approved by the FDA for obstructive sleep apnea -
University Hospitals (UH) Case Medical Center is the first in Ohio and among the first in the UK to begin offering a new treatment approved by the FDA for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).
This first of its kind treatment consists of a small implantable system called Inspire ™ Upper Airway Stimulation (UAS) therapy. It has been clinically proven to significantly reduce apnea events of sleep and improve the quality of life for people who can not tolerate continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP).
UH Case Medical Center was one of the clinical trial sites for stimulation therapy for the reduction Apnea (the STAR Trial) study, and the results were published in New England Journal of Medicine (9 January 2014). The results of the STAR trial showed that Inspire therapy reduces apnea events by 68 percent and significantly improved key quality of life measures.
Over 18 million Americans suffer from obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), which is characterized by repeated episodes of collapse of the upper airway during sleep. Patients with OSA stop breathing frequently during sleep, often for a minute or more. "Sleep apnea is as common as adult diabetes and asthma and consequences of OSA range disrupt life in danger," said Kingman Strohl, MD, who was the principal investigator of the study UH and co-author of the NEJM article. "While many patients have found help with CPAP, for some patients, it is too difficult to use, and therefore ineffective."
Inspire meaning of respiratory therapy and provides a slight stimulation of key respiratory muscles, which keeps the airway open during sleep. Using a handheld programmer, patients can control when the Inspire therapy is enabled or disabled. Unlike other surgical procedures to treat sleep apnea, Inspire therapy does not require removing or permanently change the anatomy of the face and respiratory tract of a patient.
"Inspire therapy is an important addition to the options we can offer to patients with obstructive sleep apnea," said Diana Ponsky, MD, an otolaryngologist who will be one of the ear surgeons , nose, throat and system implementation at UH. "Untreated moderate to severe OSA puts patients at increased risk of cardiovascular disease, accidents and death. Inspire therapy provides us with an effective new treatment for use in a select group of our CPAP intolerant patient population. "
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