top of page

Sleep Apnea

The old addage "I'll sleep when I'm dead" is unfortunately  pretty ironic ... poor sleep makes a shorter, less vibrant life a near certainty!  When you can't (or won't) use CPAP, or have just gotten frustrated and are ready to CUT THE CORD, we can help you find out what your best alternatives are.  Below are information and  short videos to help you understand the process and how different treatment options work. 

Evaluation & Treatment Process

Doctor Checking a Form
Listening to Music
11062b_51d6cb9828a04eb88ce21ba4e443a1f3~

Clinical Interview and Exam

Drug Induced Sleep Endoscopy

Treatment

  •  What are your goals and needs?​

  • Is CPAP completely intolerable or unusable?  Or, are you just interested to see if there is an easy alternative?​​

  • How severe is your sleep apnea? We will review your most recent sleep study.

  • Basic physical exam.

  • Flexible nasolaryngoscopy- after numbing the nose, we will place a small flexible camera through the nose to evaluate for any structural problems that may cause breathing difficulty.

  •  This is the core of determining what surgical options are likely to help your sleep apnea.  

  • You receive mild sedation in an IV and we use a camera to look in the nose and throat to evaluate what areas collapse and obstruct.  

  • Below is a short video that walks through the important features we area evaluating. 

  • Your Sleep endoscopy lets us have tailored recommendations and a treatment plan for your sleep apnea.  For many patients this is Inspire, but depending on what your DISE shows, we can create a plan just for you!

Basic Criteria for Surgery

  1. Significant sleep apnea documented with a sleep study performed in the past 24 months (Insurance companies are a stickler on the 24 months!)

  2. Body mass index:  Most surgery is contraindicated  if your body mass index is over 32 because of poor cure rates.  BUT the FDA approved Inspire for BMI less than or equal to 40 earlier this year.  Insurance companies are starting to follow suite.

  3. You don't want or can't use CPAP.  CPAP is a very effective tool for some people , and they should keep using it.  For everyone else who's looking to "cut the cord" ...

Drug Induced Sleep Endoscopy
(DISE)

Historically, surgery for OSA has had greatly variable outcomes.

​

One of the biggest causes of unsuccessful surgery is not knowing your exact cause of obstruction.

​

This video will walk you through the first step in deciding what surgical options may be right for you!

More Inspire(ing) Info!

bottom of page