Sleep Apnea

Do you snore loud enough to keep your partner from getting a restful sleep? Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) is the most effective treatment for severe obstructive sleep apnea, but oral appliances are considered a first-line approach equal to CPAP for mild to moderate sleep apnea, according to the AASM parameters of care.
A study in the October issue of Anesthesiology shows that diagnosing Nasal Surgery and prescribing CPAP therapy prior to surgery significantly reduced postoperative cardiovascular complications - specifically cardiac arrest and shock - by more than half.

Through our Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine (TOPMed) program , researchers will use data from studies focused on heart, lung, blood, and sleep disorders to better predict, prevent, diagnose, and treat sleep disorders based on a patient's unique genes, environment, and molecular signatures.
This study, which aims to understand how the upper airway collapses in obstructive sleep apnea patients during sleep, will use this information to explain why some patients present a large improvement in opening of the upper airway with the use of an oral appliance while others do not.

In the two-year multi-center pilot study, SHHS researchers and others will compare the cardiovascular effects of adding either CPAP or supplemental oxygen during sleep to standard care in patients with moderate to severe sleep apnea who are at high risk for cardiovascular disease events such as heart attack or stroke.
These are episodes characterized by mild upper airway narrowing during sleep, with increased respiratory effort required to maintain a slightly reduced level of airflow not large enough to be scored as hypopnea.4 When the increased inspiratory effort required to maintain ventilation is associated with a microarousal, a RERA is scored (Fig.

In fact, studies have shown that parapharyngeal fat pad volume is greater in obese subjects developing apnea than in nonobese subjects developing apnea ( 1 - 4 ). Moreover, nonobese subjects developing apnea have larger parapharyngeal fat pads than normal subjects ( 1 ). However, it is not just the parapharyngeal fat pads that are enlarged in patients with obstructive sleep apnea.