)
Lab
technician Lawrence
Allen
himself uses a CPAP
machine
due to sleep
apnea .
Some people, however, never feel comfortable enough with the CPAP machine and
mask and hope for alternative treatment. Lab
technician Lawrence
Allen
himself uses a CPAP
machine
due to sleep
apnea .
Some people, however, never feel comfortable enough with the CPAP machine and
mask and hope for alternative treatment.
There is surgery available, such as the uvulopalatopharyngoplasty (UPPP). This procedure opens up the passageway by removing tissue, tightening muscles, and shortening the uvula. This surgery however is not always effective. Often times, this surgery will eliminate snoring, but not the apneas. The uvula-palatoplasty, involving the laser beam, is a more recent operation, of which long-term results are not yet determined.
Somnoplasty
is a 10 minute procedure in which low-level energy is inserted into the soft palate
through small electrodes. After six weeks, the tissue in that area is absorbed
into the body, opening the passageway. The rest of the area is tightened, reducing
snoring as well. (2)
Lawrence is participating in a research project at the
Bayview sleep lab to look for alternative answers to traditional methods used
to correct sleep apnea. Surgens used to do a tracheotomy, putting a tube down
the patient's throat to widen the airway. But with many patients, the airways
would still collapse somehow. Lawrence's work on a research project at Bayview
is on an idea based on the same concept as the tracheostomy.
Part of the patient's cannula would be scooped out, so that air has an alternate,
wider route to the lungs. The research that Lawrence is doing deals with exactly
what pressure of oxygen most patients need, to help determine how much of the
cannula would need to be scooped out. He tries something in the sleep lab for
10-15 minutes to see how the people react, and then takes them back to the baseline
for comparison.
(1) Nadeaux, Carol, and Lawrence Allen. Interview of sleep lab technicians by Emilie Sutterlin. Baltimore, Maryland, visit to the Bayview Sleep Disorders Center, Johns Hopkins University, Feb. 5, 1999.
(2) "Emory Doctors Use Quick, Pianless Procedure To Reduce Habitual Snoring." Emory University: March, 1998. URL: http://www.emory.edu/WHSC/HSNEWS/releases/mar98/032098snore.html
A good Somnoplasty website: http://www.somnus.com/som/snor.htm