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Nasopharyngeal airway stents effective for obstructive sleep apnea
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Nasopharyngeal airway stents are an effective and well tolerated treatment for individuals with obstructive sleep apnea, according to findings presented at SLEEP 2018, the Annual Meeting of the Associated Sleep Societies.
“Nasopharyngeal airway stents have been used in the treatment of obstructive sleep apnea but have not been extensively evaluated in a systematic manner,” Clete A. Kushida, MD, PhD, FAASM, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Stanford University Medical Center, and colleagues wrote in the abstract.
The study included 67 participants and an additional 21 controls from two sites. The researchers evaluated the efficacy of nasopharyngeal airway stents — a single-use, flexible silicone-based tube inserted into one nostril — in the treatment of obstructive sleep apnea. Study participants underwent a pretreatment sleep study, wore the nasopharyngeal airway stent at home and completed a follow-up sleep study while wearing the stent.
Kushida and colleagues observed that the mean apnea-hypopnea index scores for nasopharyngeal airway stent pretreatment was 25.8 and posttreatment was 19.5 (P = 0.0001). Researchers stratified the combined results by the obstructive sleep apnea severity values recorded at pretreatment. According to the abstract, participants with mean moderate or severe obstructive sleep apnea values at pretreatment exhibited significant posttreatment improvement. However, participants with a mean mild obstructive sleep apnea value at pretreatment did not experience similar posttreatment improvement. Additionally, the mean pretreatment and posttreatment apnea-hypopnea index scores did not differ significantly for the 21 participants without obstructive sleep apnea.
Kushida and colleagues determined that the single-use nasopharyngeal airway stents are an effective, well tolerated and convenient treatment for individuals with moderate-to-severe obstructive sleep apnea, according to the abstract. – by Marley Ghizzone
Reference: Kushida CA, et al. Effectiveness of a nasopharyngeal airway stent for treatment of obstructive sleep apnea. Presented at SLEEP 2018, the Annual Meeting of the Associated Sleep Societies. June 2-6; Baltimore.
Disclosures: Healio Family Medicine was unable to confirm relevant financial disclosures at the time of publication.