While the bad news is that any one suffering from severe sleep apnea is perhaps going through one of the worst phases of life, the good news is that there is no dearth of sleep apnea surgery options for treating the condition effectively.
Be that as it may, there is hardly any point in hiding the truth, which is that success rate of apnea surgeries is hardly higher than 65% often deteriorating over time. While a particular procedure might need 3 to 5 sittings, at times the doctor may decide to do a combination of several surgeries to provide maximum benefit to the patient.
The decision to take up surgery for treating the condition is taken after proper diagnosis. Incidentally, though common, this disorder tends to remain undiagnosed most of the time as well as misdiagnosed in a lot of instances. This happens when some symptoms of the disorder confuse clinicians and patients. For example excessive daytime sleepiness, a key feature could appear to be hypersomnia and so on.
This is the reason why doctors insist on lab-based tests like polysomnography and Multiple Sleep Latency Test or MSLT (test to measure daytime sleepiness). With these tests, doctors can know the exact type of sleep disorder as well as how serious the condition is - which forms the basis of selecting the most suitable therapy.
While for the management of mild to moderate conditions doctors prescribe CPAP long with weight loss and other lifestyle alterations, for managing more severe cases, surgery is usually the most preferred choice of therapy.
There is no dearth of choices of surgery, but the final selection is made on the basis of site of obstruction in the airway. Though the site could be anywhere in the airways, the most common locations are within the nose, throat, and the tongue base.
The primary aim of apnea surgeries is to remove all obstructions from the upper respiratory tract to allow the patient to breathe normally. Some common options are:
-Nasal surgeries: These surgeries are done to clear the nasal passage. There are three common anatomical problems in this area that create blockage. These are deviated septum, nasal valve and turbinates. Septoplasty is a minimally invasive surgery that can reposition deviated septum, repair nasal valve problems as well as reduce enlarged turbinates successfully. One of the newer surgeries is somnoplasty, which is the only option that uses radiofrequency ablation technology to reduce, tighten and shrink excess tissues of the tonsils, nasal passages and tongue base.
-UPPP or uvulopalatopharyngoplasty: the uppp surgery is one of the oldest and most common surgery it removes excess tissues from the soft palate and pharynx.
-Soft palate implants or the Pillar Procedure is also minimally invasive and is effective even in treating mild conditions. Three polyester rods are implanted in the soft palate resulting in stiffening of the adjoining tissue and opening of the airways.
-Tracheostomy, a relatively simple procedure is usually reserved for patients whose condition is life-threatening. It makes an incision in the neck for allowing air to enter directly into the lungs.
-Some other sleep apnea surgery options include genioglossus (tongue advancement), hyoid bone advancement, maxillary or maxillomandibular advancement (MMA), etc. All these surgeries treat severe conditions as well as patients who find CPAP therapy incompatible.
Be that as it may, there is hardly any point in hiding the truth, which is that success rate of apnea surgeries is hardly higher than 65% often deteriorating over time. While a particular procedure might need 3 to 5 sittings, at times the doctor may decide to do a combination of several surgeries to provide maximum benefit to the patient.
The decision to take up surgery for treating the condition is taken after proper diagnosis. Incidentally, though common, this disorder tends to remain undiagnosed most of the time as well as misdiagnosed in a lot of instances. This happens when some symptoms of the disorder confuse clinicians and patients. For example excessive daytime sleepiness, a key feature could appear to be hypersomnia and so on.
This is the reason why doctors insist on lab-based tests like polysomnography and Multiple Sleep Latency Test or MSLT (test to measure daytime sleepiness). With these tests, doctors can know the exact type of sleep disorder as well as how serious the condition is - which forms the basis of selecting the most suitable therapy.
While for the management of mild to moderate conditions doctors prescribe CPAP long with weight loss and other lifestyle alterations, for managing more severe cases, surgery is usually the most preferred choice of therapy.
There is no dearth of choices of surgery, but the final selection is made on the basis of site of obstruction in the airway. Though the site could be anywhere in the airways, the most common locations are within the nose, throat, and the tongue base.
The primary aim of apnea surgeries is to remove all obstructions from the upper respiratory tract to allow the patient to breathe normally. Some common options are:
-Nasal surgeries: These surgeries are done to clear the nasal passage. There are three common anatomical problems in this area that create blockage. These are deviated septum, nasal valve and turbinates. Septoplasty is a minimally invasive surgery that can reposition deviated septum, repair nasal valve problems as well as reduce enlarged turbinates successfully. One of the newer surgeries is somnoplasty, which is the only option that uses radiofrequency ablation technology to reduce, tighten and shrink excess tissues of the tonsils, nasal passages and tongue base.
-UPPP or uvulopalatopharyngoplasty: the uppp surgery is one of the oldest and most common surgery it removes excess tissues from the soft palate and pharynx.
-Soft palate implants or the Pillar Procedure is also minimally invasive and is effective even in treating mild conditions. Three polyester rods are implanted in the soft palate resulting in stiffening of the adjoining tissue and opening of the airways.
-Tracheostomy, a relatively simple procedure is usually reserved for patients whose condition is life-threatening. It makes an incision in the neck for allowing air to enter directly into the lungs.
-Some other sleep apnea surgery options include genioglossus (tongue advancement), hyoid bone advancement, maxillary or maxillomandibular advancement (MMA), etc. All these surgeries treat severe conditions as well as patients who find CPAP therapy incompatible.
About the Author:
Marc MacDonald is an independent sleep researcher on idiopathic hypersomnia, narcolepsy, and sleep apnea. To learn more about this article's main topic, please visit his Surgery for Sleep Apnea website.
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