The buzz on neurostimulation

If positive airway pressure (PAP) hasn’t worked for you, you may have heard about one of the newest alternatives to treat sleep apnea: hypoglossal nerve stimulation (HNS). But what is it and how can it help you?

Hypoglossal nerve stimulation is the newest surgical therapy for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Therapy consists of a device implanted under the clavicle that stimulates the hypoglossal nerve producing forward movement of the tongue that increases the size of the airway during sleep. Approved by Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2015, upper airway stimulation is appropriate for carefully selected patients with OSA.

Who is a good candidate for this treatment?

You might be a good candidate for this therapy if your healthcare provider can confirm that PAP treatments (such as continuous positive airway pressure [CPAP] or bi-level positive airway pressure [Bi-level PAP] machines) haven’t worked for you and you do not have complete soft palate collapse when you sleep. In order for you to be considered for HNS therapy, conservative therapies like weight loss and exercise should have been attempted, as well as non-surgical treatment approaches like PAP and dental devices.

If you’ve tried other therapies to no avail, talk to your healthcare provider about what HNS can do for you.