Inspire Sleep Apnea Treatment
FOR A MASK-FREE, QUIET AND COMFORTABLE NIGHT’S SLEEP
BCH’s Foothills Hospital is proud to be the only Boulder County facility
offering Inspire® Upper Airway Stimulation — an innovative treatment
option for patients with moderate-to-severe obstructive sleep apnea (OSA)
who can’t tolerate continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP).
Inspire is a minimally invasive surgical alternative that uses an implanted
device to monitor your breathing and keep your airway open while you sleep.
Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) occurs when muscles at the back of the throat,
mainly the tongue or soft palate, temporarily relax while you’re
sleeping. When these muscles relax, the airway becomes narrowed or closed,
causing you to repeatedly stop breathing for brief moments during sleep.
If left untreated, OSA increases your risk for a number of serious conditions,
including high blood pressure, coronary artery disease, stroke, heart
failure, irregular heartbeat, dementia and type 2 diabetes.
CPAP – a bedside pump that pushes a stream of air into a mask to
keep the airway open while a person sleeps — has long been the gold
standard treatment for OSA. However, many people struggle with making
the CPAP mask comfortable to wear, hearing the all-night noise of the
machine or getting consistent benefit from the treatment. In fact, current
research suggests that only about 60 percent of people use CPAP as prescribed.
Inspire is a mask-free alternative. It uses an implantable device (similar
to a pacemaker) to monitor every breath you take and, based on your unique
breathing patterns, it delivers mild stimulation to a nerve that controls
muscles at the back of your throat. By stimulating these muscles, the
system keeps your airway open during sleep. With a handheld remote, you
turn the device on before bed and off when you wake up. It's that
simple and easy to use.
Inspire therapy is very successful. As of October 2020, there have been
more than 100 peer-reviewed publications on Inspire therapy. These publications
show that patients using Inspire therapy experience significant benefits:
- 79% reduction in sleep apnea events, resulting in a healthier, restful
night’s sleep
- 94% of people are satisfied with Inspire
- 96% of patients say Inspire is better than CPAP and would recommend Inspire to others
- Reduced snoring, with 90% of bed partners reporting no snoring or only
soft snoring
- Improved daytime functioning from better sleep
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Inspire is a second-line therapy for people who can’t tolerate or
don’t benefit from CPAP, and for whom there are no other effective
alternatives. You may be a good candidate for Inspire if:
- You are at least 18 years of age
- Your AHI (apnea-hypopnea index) is between 15 and 65 (moderate-to-severe)
- You are not significantly overweight, meaning your body mass index is lower than 35
If you meet all of these eligibility requirements, your physician will
confirm that Inspire therapy is right for you with an airway assessment
and a sleep endoscopy, which examines your airway while you're under sedation.
If you qualify, you’ll undergo a minimally invasive procedure during
which your physician will place the Inspire system under the skin of your
neck and chest through three small incisions — all in an outpatient
setting. Patients go home the same day with no dietary restrictions.
Approximately one month after surgery, you’ll return to your physician
to activate the system. Then, about 10-12 weeks later, you’ll undergo
a routine sleep study to optimize the device to your unique breathing patterns.
General checkups will occur one to two times per year. But once implanted,
you’ll have Inspire for life – a simple swap-out procedure
to replace the battery will be needed about every 10 years.
Schedule an appointment for a consultation by calling Colorado Sleep Institute
at (720) 279-9098.
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