Two sleep disorders centers focussing on the children have opened up with dedicated sleep disorders programs  for the suburban Philadelphia residents. These two Philadelhia hospitals intend to help people who have trouble sleeping.

Crozer-Keystone Sleep Centers recently opened the Pediatric Sleep Center at Crozer-Chester Medical Center. Mercy Suburban Hospital in East Norriton also recently opened a sleep disorders center for adults on the third floor of its Medical Arts Pavilion.

Crozer-Keystone Sleep Centers has been opened by Crozer-Keystone Health System to serve children ages six months to 16 years with problems such as sleep apnea, sleep walking, insomnia and night terrors. Read the rest of this entry

NovaSom, Inc., the leader  in obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) home testing and cost-containment solutions, announces the launch of its next generation MediTrack(R) cloud-based CRM  application. The MediTrack OSA management platform is designed to enable custom  processing of payer-specific medical policy, billing, utilization management and  therapy coordination requirements to efficiently manage home sleep testing, OSA  diagnosis and recommended therapy.

NovaSom’s proprietary MediTrack system allows physicians to order a NovaSom  home sleep test online or by fax. The platform provides customizable information fields for easier physician entry of payer required data, leverages payer  communication preferences, and incorporates payer-specific messaging into patient shipping and handling and device return logistics. The system also manages rapid upload of patient sleep data for interpretation by a Board Certified physician, and then promptly publishes the OSA study results for secure online and fax delivery to the ordering physician. Upon positive diagnosis, the MediTrack technology integrates assignment of payer-preferred therapy providers. Read the rest of this entry

The Snoring Centera”, the nation’s leading provider of minimally invasive, office-based treatment for snoring and sleep apnea, including the Pillar Procedure from Medtronic, has opened an office in Los Angeles.

Dr. Marc Kayem, a Board Certified Otolaryngologist with years of experience treating snoring and sleep apnea, will serve as Medical Director of the Snoring Center’s Beverly Hills location.

“I am honored to join The Snoring Center. Their progressive and innovative approach to treating sleep disordered breathing has improved the lives of thousands of patients from around the world,” said Dr. Kayem. “In the past, patients would have to travel to Texas to visit The Snoring Center. It is exciting to watch our team expand into new markets in order to provide minimally invasive, office-based snoring and sleep apnea treatment to more men and women in need.” Read the rest of this entry

Bay Sleep, the West Coast’s largest and fastest growing independent sleep  center, announced the opening of its newest, state-of-the-art sleep clinic in Oakland, California. 

Located one block from Summit Medical Center, this is Bay Sleep’s 16th clinic open  for business. Services include sleep physician consultations, diagnostic in-lab  and home sleep testing and dispensing CPAP and other therapies for patients  diagnosed with Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) and other sleep  disorders.

The growth trend continues as the company plans to open  their next full service sleep care facility in Solano County by mid-December.  Read the rest of this entry

St. Luke’s Sleep Medicine and Research Center is now enrolling participants in a clinical study to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of the Apnex Hypoglossal Nerve Stimulation (HGNS) System, an implantable device, to treat obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).

“Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), which involves a pressurized mask over the nose, is considered the ‘gold standard’ for the treatment of sleep apnea, but many people have difficulty tolerating it,” said Paula Schweitzer, PhD, St. Luke’s Sleep Medicine and Research Center director of research. “This implantable device offers a new approach for those who have not had success with CPAP or other sleep apnea treatments.”

People interested in learning if they qualify for the Apnex Clinical Study may call 888-975-3370 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            888-975-3370     end_of_the_skype_highlighting or visit stlukes-stl.com/sleep. Qualified participants will receive the medical device and care free of charge.

Patients with mild to moderate obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), a condition in which the airway collapses and blocks breathing for 10 seconds or more, may consider adjustable oral appliances (OAs), devices that fit within the mouth to prevent upper airway collapse, as an effective first-line treatment, according to two studies conducted by sleep medicine specialists from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center (WRNMMC) in Bethesda, Md. 

The retrospective, peer-reviewed studies, published in the December 2011 issue of CHEST, the official journal of the American College of Chest Physicians, and in the current issue of the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine (JCSM), the official journal of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, provide findings on OAs from the largest patient populations studied to date. The studies found that adjustable OAs are nearly as effective as continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) treatment for patients with a mild form of OSA and are more effective than fixed oral appliances, particularly in patients with moderate to severe OSA. Read the rest of this entry

Snoring can have a major impact on those around you. Half of Americans snore, and the problem becomes more prevalent with an increase in weight and age, but it can occur in all populations—even in children. Not everyone who snores has sleep apnea or another sleeping disorder; however, it is one of the warning signs.

Sleep apnea is a sleep disorder characterized by abnormal pauses in breathing or instances of abnormally low breathing during sleep. Each pause in breathing, or apnea, can last from a few seconds to minutes.

There are three forms of sleep apnea: central sleep apnea, obstructive sleep apnea and mixed sleep apnea, meaning a combination of the first two. In central, breathing is interrupted by a lack of respiratory effort; in obstructive, breathing is interrupted by a physical block to airflow despite respiratory effort, and snoring is common. Read the rest of this entry

A new study presented in November at the American College of Allergy, Asthma  and Immunology Annual Meeting found that obese adolescents have an increased risk of sleep apnea or abnormal breathing during sleep.

Previous research has shown that obese children and teenagers are at higher  risk of health-related problems, including heart disease, diabetes, high blood  pressure and asthma. Children who are overweight are nearly 2-1/2 times more  likely to have asthma than those who are not overweight. Now, this new study  highlights how obesity may interfere with a child’s ability to have restful  sleep.

“Quality nighttime sleep is a key component for advanced executive function  in children and teenagers,” says Sushmita Mikkilineni, M.D., Director Pediatric  Pulmonology for Children’s Hospital of New Jersey (CHoNJ) at Newark Beth Israel  Medical Center. “Untreated pediatric sleep disorders, including sleep apnea, can  exact a heavy toll on young people. Children suffering from sleep disorders may  be hyperactive, inattentive, and chronically tired.” Read the rest of this entry

A recent study by the American Psychiatric Association of Psychiatric  Services concludes a direct connection between sleep apnea and certain  psychiatric conditions. It also points out that the solutions for psychiatric  patients are just as simple as those for all individuals suffering from sleep  apnea. Companies like Rematee provide a solution that is both non-evasive and  ensures side sleeping.

Sleep apnea is a relatively common sleep disorder that causes patients to  stop breathing from 20 seconds to 40 seconds, due to a relaxed and thus  partially collapsed airway. Although it will not outright wake its victims, it  will bring them to a lighter stage of sleep, disrupting the rest and relaxation  needed by the brain, as well as other parts of the body.

Because the brain is so affected by this sleep disorder, much research is  being done as to how it relates to psychiatric conditions.  Studies are showing  that the effects of sleep apnea on certain mental conditions, including that of  Alzheimer’s disease, are actually quite prominent. Read the rest of this entry

Bay Sleep, the West Coast’s largest and fastest growing independent sleep center, announced the opening of its newest, state-of-the-art sleep clinic in Oakland, California. Located one block from Summit Medical Center, this is Bay Sleep’s 16th clinic open for business.

Services include sleep physician consultations, diagnostic in-lab and home sleep testing and dispensing CPAP and other therapies for patients diagnosed with Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) and other sleep disorders. Read the rest of this entry

The safety and effectiveness of sleep apnea equipment will be examined,evaluated, and determined with the help of a research study conducted by Winston-Salem Company.

Winston-Salem announced that  it has received approval to begin a clinical study to evaluate the  safety and effectiveness of the Apnex hypoglossal Nerve Stimulation (HGNS) System. The device is used to treat obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).

PMG will be one of the first medical centers in the country to participate in this study. “Many people who suffer from OSA are unable to tolerate existing therapies such as continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP). The HGNS System provides a new approach to the treatment of OSA. This study will help us  further understand what role this device could have in treating the millions of people who suffer from OSA,” said the study’s co-principal investigator. Read the rest of this entry

People with diabetes and obstructive sleep apnea are at greater risk of hypoglycemia, a newly concluded research revealed.

People suffering from a sleep disorder who also had poor autonomic function had significantly more hypoglycemia than those with more normal function (P<0.05), Jennifer Cheng, MD, of Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science in Chicago, and colleagues reported here at the World Congress on Insulin Resistance, Diabetes, and Cardiovascular Disease meeting.

“We expected that the symptomatic obstructive sleep apnea patients would have more hyperglycemia, but they actually had more hypoglycemia,” Cheng told MedPage Today. “Clinicians should take into account autonomic function when recommending tight glucose regulation because of the adverse effects that hypoglycemia can cause.” Read the rest of this entry

Sleep apnea screening is rare among psychiatric patients at present, but it’s important to diagnose obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) because it can make mental illness worse, contributing to depression and possibly to the risk of manic episodes.

The symptoms of obstructive sleep apnea can mimic mental illness as well, making patients irritable and tired. If a patient is diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea it will further complicate the use of benzodiazepines and other respiratory depressants in such patients.

The lead investigator Dr. Vanita Jain, a psychiatry department resident at the University of Utah, Salt Lake City says,” “Sleep problems are so integral to psychiatric problems, [and] we wanted to make sure that along with psychiatric disorders, we were treating obstructive sleep apnea, too”. Read the rest of this entry

How many times have you gone to bed only to find out you just can’t fall asleep? Or, let’s say, how many times have you woken up in the middle of the night for no apparent reason? Sleep problems – even disorders – appear to be in the rise in our modern world, for a variety of reasons.

For instance, health conditions such as obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS). This condition is characterized by irregular breathing, often an inability to breathe at all for short periods of time. Because of this, people with OSAS tend to wake up several times in the same night, and therefore lose much needed sleep. The causes of this illness range from brain injury and physical abnormalities to loss of muscle tone due to substance abuse or a sedentary lifestyle. OSAS has also been linked to obesity. [   Read Complete Post  ...   ]

A study appearing in the November 2011 issue of the Journal of  Clinical Sleep Medicine finds that obstructive sleep apnea (OSA)  patients treated with Provent Sleep Apnea Therapywere not only compliant  with the therapy but also showed a reduction in apnea-hypopnea index  (AHI).

“This study provides further validation that Provent Therapy is an  effective treatment for some OSA patients as it reduces daytime  sleepiness, apnea-hypopnea index (AHI), and snoring associated with this  prevalent condition,” said Meir Kryger, MD, of Gaylord Sleep Medicine  and past president of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

“Patients  reported wearing the device almost 90% of the nights, which represents  very high compliance. The current gold standard, continuous positive  airway pressure (CPAP) is very effective but many patients do not use it  adequately. Provent represents an important new treatment option for  many obstructive sleep apnea patients.” Read the rest of this entry