Treating Psoriasis

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.

When is the decision taken to do surgery? It all starts with diagnosis at the right time and that too correctly. Though common, this sleep disorder tends to remain undiagnosed and there is always the chance of it being misdiagnosed since many of its features appear to represent other illnesses. For example, excessive daytime sleepiness, one of its key features could mean narcolepsy or insomnia to someone or hypersomnia to another.

For ensuring right diagnosis, doctors rely on lab-based tests like polysomnography and Multiple Sleep Latency Test or MSLT, the process of measuring daytime sleepiness. Such tests not only divulge the type of sleep disorder but also the severity, which is the point of initiation of therapy selection.

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 are plenty of surgical options for treating the condition. The choice of surgery depends on the precise location of obstruction in the airway. While obstruction could be anywhere in the upper respiratory tract, the most common sites are within the nose, throat, and base of the tongue.

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 manage nasal blockage caused by three common anatomical problems within the nasal cavity, including deviated septum, turbinates and nasal valve. Repairing nasal valve, repositioning septal deviation and reducing size of enlarged turbinates can be accomplished by septoplasty, a minimally invasive option. Somnoplasty is one of the newer surgeries and the only option that uses radiofrequency ablation technology to reduce and tighten excess tissues in the tonsils, nasal passage, base of tongue and soft palate.

-UPPP, or uvulopalatopharyngoplasty: When removing extra tissues from soft palate and pharynx is the goal, this uppp procedure is the solution opted for. It is one of the most common and perhaps one of the oldest too.

-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 is relative simple. It involves making an opening in the windpipe through the neck for allowing air to enter directly into the lungs. This surgery is usually done for patients who are facing a life threatening situation.

-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.

Marc MacDonald is an independent sleep researcher on narcolepsy, sleep apnea, and hypersomnolence. For more of this article’s topic, see Marc Macdonald’s site to get the best guide on Sleep Apnea Surgery. Cheers for healthy days!