Apnex Medical, Inc., has received CE Mark approval for its Hypoglossal Nerve Stimulation (HGNS®) System for use by people who suffer from obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). The system was approved for sale in Europe based on the positive results of two clinical studies conducted in the United States and Australia. In those studies, the majority of patients demonstrated a significant reduction in their obstructive sleep apnea as well as substantial improvements in the quality of their sleep, quality of life, and overall health.

“CE Mark approval is an important confirmation of the substantial benefits that patients receive from our HGNS therapy for obstructive sleep apnea and is a key milestone for our company,” said Chas McKhann, Apnex Medical President and CEO. Read the rest of this entry

Harry Cutler, a sleep apnea patient, has been awarded patent protection in the United Kingdom. The patent protects a medical device created initially to treat Mr. Cutler’s own obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) which afflicts from 12% to 25% of the population. The device also reduces or eliminates snoring, one of the primary side effects of OSA. Unlike other oral appliances, it can be used by people with loose teeth, dentures, or no teeth at all, thereby eliminating costly dental preparation. It is being marketed as the “RespireAide Sleep Apnea Solution”.

In this case, necessity was indeed the mother of invention. Underemployed at the time and without insurance, Cutler’s sleep apnea became severe. “I was falling asleep while driving to work, in the middle of the day! I had to do something,” said Cutler.

He researched the condition and began to fashion a solution mostly from items found around the house or purchased from the local hardware and sporting goods stores. “The initial device was somewhat crude, but it did help. Over the following six years, using myself as a test subject, I refined and improved the device with the goal of creating an acceptable combination of comfort and effectiveness. The resultant device bears little resemblance to the original,” he added. Read the rest of this entry

Ventus Medical  revealed the results of a large, long-term study of its proprietary Provent® Sleep Apnea Therapy, an innovative, non-invasive treatment for  obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), were published in the November 2011 issue of the  Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, an official publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

Snoring is among the common sleep problems in adults, especially in middle-aged men. And children and kids are equally prone to this most uncomfortable sleep disorder.The effects of snoring upon the overall health of children is established to be detrimental up to great extent.

Association of snoring and obstructive sleep apnea, or OSA among kids and children has now become a more common occurrence. Across the globe occurrence of persistent snoring on most nights has been reported in 8-12 percent of children.

The incidence of OSA (with significant upper airway obstruction leading to   oxygen desaturation and/or sleep fragmentation) is 2-3 percent in children under the age of 10. Read the rest of this entry

GLOBAL Doctor’s Specialist Centre in Mont Kiara, Kuala Lumpur, now offers its first Sleep Apnea Clinic offering sleep diagnostic testing with the Philips Alice 5 Diagnostic Sleep System, a fully-integrated sleep laboratory system. The launch of the clinic highlights Philips and Global Doctors’ commitment to improving the awareness of common sleep disorders, such as Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) in Malaysia.Nearly 7% of the adult population or 1.9 million people in Malaysia are affected by Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA).According to the findings of attitudinal study of Malaysians’ perceptions of their health and well-being, the Philips Index, suggested that 17% of Malaysians do not get enough sleep. The study results also revealed that their perceived lack of sleep negatively impacted on how they felt about their physihecal and mental health. Read the rest of this entry

Sleep apnea generally causes obstructive breathing in the middle of the night for more than 12 million Americans. Fatigue, high blood pressure and weight gain are just a few of its symptoms.

Several researches concluded during recent past have established that sleep apnea can be a drain on intimacy, causing erectile dysfunction in men and loss of libido in women.

Scientists suspect this may have to do with sex hormones like testosterone, which rise with sleep and fall when there is a lack of it. Because it causes intermittent waking and chronic sleep deprivation, apnea may directly drive down levels of these hormones, causing sexual dysfunction. Read the rest of this entry

The University Hospitals Case Medical Center is conducting  research study and clinical trials  for evaluating effectiveness of a new implantable device to treat sleep apnea.

The study is aimed to evaluate an electronic device designed to deliver mild stimulation to the main nerve of the tongue — the hypoglossal nerve — on each breathing cycle during sleep.

This stimulation is intended to restore tone to the muscles that control the base of the tongue, which prevent the tongue from collapsing and obstructing the airway during sleep.

Sleep apnea obstruction may not be the only cause for loud snoring but it does affects sleep that is not refreshing. At the same time sleep apnea equally causes daytime sleepiness and a reduced quality of life. Other disorders associated with sleep apnea include development of high blood pressure, as well as cardiovascular diseases, stroke and diabetes. Read the rest of this entry

SleepApneaDisorder/[ Press Release ]/HOUSTON/Cyberonics, Inc.  a global leader in medical devices for the treatment and management of epilepsy, today announced an initial investment of $4 million in ImThera Medical, Inc. (“ImThera“). Based in San Diego, California, ImThera is an early-stage company developing a novel, implantable neurostimulation device for the treatment of obstructive sleep apnea (“OSA”).

The investment in ImThera can total $12 million subject to the achievement of certain regulatory and clinical milestones. Cyberonics is a minority shareholder with certain rights, including representation on ImThera’s board of directors. In addition, ImThera will raise up to $4 million from its private investors, for a total Series C placement of up to $16 million.

OSA is a serious, potentially life-threatening condition associated with significant long-term health problems and accompanying costs. ImThera’s Targeted Hypoglossal Neurostimulation (THN) Sleep Therapy combines a multi-contact electrode specifically designed to control certain muscles of the tongue with an implantable pulse generator and an external programmer. The company is currently pursuing CE Mark regulatory approval in the European Union and expects to initiate a pivotal clinical trial in the U.S. in the near future. Read the rest of this entry

Dr. Brock Rondeau of Dr. Rondeau and Associates, a general dentist with a focus on orthodontics in London, is offering patients ways to sleep better at night time with sleep apnea treatments. Sleep apnea is a type of breathing disorder which is a serious, and potentially life-threatening condition characterized by brief interruptions of breathing during sleep.

“People who snore loudly are often the target of bad jokes and middle of the night elbow thrusts, but snoring is no laughing matter. While loud, disruptive snoring may strain relationships, it may signal a potentially life threatening disorder: obstructive sleep apnea. I am pleased to offer my patients a safe alternative for treating sleep apnea and allowing them to rest easy at night,” said Dr. Brock Rondeau, general dentist with a focus on London orthodontics.

The signs and symptoms of OSA include snoring, excessive daytime sleepiness, gasping or choking during the night, non-refreshed sleep, fragmented sleep, clouded memory, irritability, personality changes and morning headaches. Read the rest of this entry

Advocate Condell Medical Center, along with the Alert, Well, And Keeping Energetic support group (A.W.A.K.E.), is hosting a CPAP vendor fair on Tuesday, Oct. 4, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., in the conference center at 801 South Milwaukee Ave. in Libertyville. The event is free and open to the public.

Sleep apnea patients, family members and physicians are invited to learn about new continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) equipment, masks, and other items for clients. Vendors include; DeVilbiss, Phillips Respironics, ResMed, Candance, Fisher & Paykel along with Dr. Debbie Kline, an oral appliance specialist. Additionally, Advocate Home Health Care will offer free CPAP equipment pressure checks.  Read the rest of this entry

SleepApneaDisorder/ [Press release ]/ DETROIT /– Detroit Medical Center has been selected as the first Detroit area hospital to participate in a pivotal clinical study to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of a new therapy for patients with moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). The STAR trial (Stimulation Therapy for Apnea Reduction) will be conducted at leading medical centers across the United States and Europe, and will evaluate the efficacy of Inspire™ Upper Airway Stimulation (UAS) therapy, an implantable therapy that works with the body’s natural physiology to prevent airway obstruction during sleep. More than 18 million Americans suffer from OSA, which is characterized by repeated episodes of upper airway collapse during sleep. Patients with OSA stop breathing frequently during sleep, often for a minute or longer. Daytime sleepiness, depression, weight gain, increase in industrial accidents and diminished quality of life are all commonly observed in people who suffer from OSA as a result of fragmented sleep patterns.  Furthermore, OSA is associated with the development of systemic hypertension, cardiovascular diseases (heart failure, heart rhythm disorders), stroke, and diabetes. Read the rest of this entry

In advance of a sleep apnea testing requirement by U.S. regulators, Harvard researchers are investigating a new type of screening tool to identify drivers at a higher risk for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).

The psychomotor vigilance test is a 10-minute test of attention, alertness, and reaction time (RT). It can be accomplished within a short office visit, requires only brief instruction, is performed on portable, hand-held computers, and its output can be easily and quickly read and interpreted.

“Our goal is to develop objective screening methods beyond obesity for obstructive sleep apnea to be used in occupational health settings,” said the study’s senior author, Stefanos N. Kales, MD, MPH, Division Chief & Medical Director of Employee and Industrial Medicine at Cambridge Health Alliance. “Subjective reports of excessive daytime sleepiness are notoriously unreliable especially during fitness-for-work examinations, and obesity in isolation as a screen has generated resistance from many drivers.” Read the rest of this entry

Former USC football star Petro Papadakis, who currently hosts the KLAC AM 570 afternoon radio show, announced that he had received successful treatment for sleep apnea and snoring from Dr. Jonathan Greenburg.  Dr. Greenburg fitted Papadakis with a patent-pending appliance that is customized to each person’s mouth and tongue.   Papadakis commented, “It’s been a great alternative to the CPAP for me.  Dr. Greenburg is an innovator and visionary and his Snore No More Device enables me to sleep on planes and at my house without disturbing the peace.  The dental device opens your airway just like the CPAP and is much less cumbersome.“

Dr.Greenburg commented, “Petros is one of many sleep apnea or snoring sufferers who find the CPAP machine uncomfortable and too difficult to use.  Our custom fitted oral appliance treatment program gently repositions the tongue away from the airway at night and is ideal for patients like him who are either CPAP intolerant or travel often and wish to not have to take a CPAP machine with them.” Read the rest of this entry

SleepApneaDisorder/[ Press Release ]/ ST. PAUL, Minn., Aug. 2, 2011 /- Apnex Medical, Inc., received investigational device exemption (IDE) approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to begin a clinical study to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of its Hypoglossal Nerve Stimulation (HGNS®) System to treat obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Data from this clinical study are intended to support the Pre-Market Approval (PMA) application for the HGNS System to the FDA.“Many patients who suffer from OSA are unable to tolerate existing therapies such as continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP). The HGNS System provides a fundamentally new approach to the treatment of OSA. This study will help us further understand the potential role this device will have in treating the millions of people who suffer from OSA,” said the study’s co-principal investigator, Dr. Atul Malhotra, Clinical Chief, Division of Sleep Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Read the rest of this entry

What looks like a pacemaker for the heart, may be the ticket for a good night’s sleep.  An experimental treatment for Obstructive Sleep Apnea is being tested at the Medical University of South Carolina, where doctors have performed one of only six surgeries in the United States, as part of a trial monitored by the Food and Drug Administration. The experimental treatment works by stimulating muscles to keep the airway from closing off.

Five percent of men and three percent of women in this country suffer Obstructive Sleep Apnea.  The numbers dramatically increase as people age.  People with Obstructive Sleep Apnea often snore loudly, don’t sleep well at night and feel tired during the day.  It can lead to depression, irritability and memory troubles. But it also has the long term risk of stroke, heart disease, high blood pressure and increased risk of automobile accidents.” Read the rest of this entry