I know what I want for Father's Day!Inspire II Implantable Nerve Stimulator for Obstructive Sleep Apnea
Filed under: ENT , Neurological Surgery
Inspire Medical Systems, a spin-out of Medtronic, has developed an implantable electronic stimulator for the treatment of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), and now implanted it in a first patient. Because muscles in the upper airway relax more than necessary in some OSA patients, the passage gets blocked and air can't flow repeatedly during sleep. The company's Inspire II System applies an electric current to the hypoglossal nerve at proper times by sensing the pulmonary pressure of the patient. Of note, Inspire Medical has received FDA approval for the device.
More about the device from the product page:
The Inspire II system consists of an implantable pulse generator, a pulmonary pressure sensor and a stimulation lead that delivers the electrical impulses to the patient's hypoglossal nerve. The hypoglossal nerve is the twelfth cranial nerve that is located along the side of the neck and leads to the tongue. The unique closed-loop design of the Inspire II system senses a patient's respiratory effort during sleep and provides hypoglossal nerve stimulation to maintain an open airway synchronous with respiration. Patients have a programming device that is used to turn the device on at bedtime and to turn the unit off during non-sleep periods. The stimulation delivered is sufficient enough to evoke a response from the nerve but at a low enough level to not disturb the patient's sleep. A physician controller unit, used during visits to the patient's treating physician, is used to monitor the therapy and make adjustments to the device as needed for the patient's unique physiology
Bye-bye CPAP. Bye-bye aerophagia.
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March 17, 2009
Hey guys, here is an update on a competing implantable device made by Apnex Medical, Inc. It looks cool; can't wait to see if it works well!
We recently reported on an implantable nerve stimulator from Inspire Medical Systems that aims to help people with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). During sleep the system monitors one's breathing and stimulates the hypoglossal nerve to help open muscles in the upper airway, to keep it open. We now learn that Apnex Medical out of St. Paul, Minnesota is conducting a clinical trial of a competing product, the Apnex Hypoglossal Nerve Stimulation (HGNS™) System.
Here's how the Apnex system works from the company's technology page:
Implanted Components
The Neurostimulator is implanted in a subcutaneous pocket inferior to the clavicle over the pectoralis fascia. A nerve cuff electrode on the distal end of the Stimulation Lead is implanted on a branch of the hypoglossal nerve (HGN) in the submandibular region. The proximal end of the Stimulation Lead is tunneled under the skin to the Neurostimulator. The Respiration Sensing Leads are tunneled under the skin from the Neurostimulator to the costal margins.
External Components
The Programmer System and Therapy Controller are wirelessly linked to the Neurostimulator. The Programmer System includes the following components: computer; programmer interface; and programmer head. The programmer system is used by the physician to control and program the Neurostimulator during surgery and therapy titration. The Therapy Controller is used by the patient to control limited aspects of therapy delivery, to meet their unique sleep needs.
The Apnex HGNS System is intended to work by restoring neuromuscular activity to the genioglossus muscle by stimulating the hypoglossal nerve synchronous with inspiration to mitigate upper airway collapse during sleep. This is similar to how the body's natural neuromuscular physiology functions in people without OSA. Stimulation is generated by the Neurostimulator, synchronized with inspiration as measured by the Respiration Sensing Leads using bio-impedance, and delivered to the hypoglossal nerve by the Stimulation Lead.
http://www.medgadget.com/archives/2009/ ... r_osa.html
