Genioglossus advancement sugery for Apnea-COMMENTS ANYONE??

[rudyrx]

I AM CONSIDERING A GENIOGLOSSUS ADVANCEMENT SURGEY AT STANFORD FOR MY SLEEP APNEA PROBLEMS. I HAD A FULL WORKUP ABOUT A YEAR AGO FROM DR. H AT STANFORD AND IT WAS HIS RECOMENDATION. HAS ANYONE ELSE HAD THIS SURGERY OR HAVE AND COMMENTS PRO OR CON ON THIS PROCEDURE? I WOULD APPRECIATE YOUR COMMENTS.
RUDYRX

[Snoredog]

you might search for posts by Swordz he has just had it done.

The GA is the only surgery procedure I know next to a MA that actually works.

This procedure is where they cut out the chinbone were the tongue muscle attaches and turn it 90 degrees and reattach with bone graft or screws. This basically pulls the tongue muscle forward reducing the chance of it falling back into the back of the throat and blocking off the airway.

I have not read any data on the efficacy of the procedure long term like 10yrs later if it is still effective. Maybe your doctor at Stanford can give you some idea there.

[Guest]

Here's some pertinent information from a poster on TAS.

Another message board that covers OSA surgery is Sleepnet.com Non-Cpap forum.

There are many who will perform a GA...but as an isolated procedure, the success isn't great, and not well documented. On the other hand, in combination with the MMA (upper and lower jaw advancement), the GA blends in like a hand in glove. The base of the tongue is advanced with the jaws as one unit...the documented success of this combination is about 95%.

There are pictures (very graphic pictures) of this surgery as well as pictures of other surgical procedures used for the treatment for OSA in this link:

Surgical Options for OSA
(The glossectomy photos begin on page 28.)

[Guest]

The Genioglossal Advancement procedure pictures begin on page 10 of the link given in the previous post.

[rested gal]

Interesting discussions about several kinds of surgeries are in the links at the bottom third of this page:

Clickable LINKS to surgery, turbinates, Pillar, TAP experiences

[GoodKnight]

rudyrx,

I just had the surgery August 1 from the same doctor who did your work up. I also had a UPPP flap and RF tongue reduction along with GA. The doctor says that combination cures 75% of his patients.

Here is what I can tell you so far about my experience:

The pain and discomfort of the surgery are not that bad and are not a reason to be fearful of the surgery. You are on a liquid and soft food diet for a couple of weeks. The pain pills(actually liquid vicodin) control the pain quite well. Right now I am doing quite well with no restrictions, although my soft palate is still sore and I have to swallow carefully and take smaller bites of food than normally. I see the doc on Monday for a follow-up.

I still am using my APAP. The pressures are lower than typically before the surgery running 7 to 9 with occasional excursions to 11. Before the surgery the pressures would be typically 10 to 11. It takes 4 months for all the tissues to firm up in order to tell what the results are for the apnea. They sleep test you at that time. I have slept one night without the machine as a test to see what happens and based on how i felt upon awakening I think I now have mild sleep apnea instead of the severe apnea before the surgery, but that must be taken with a grain of salt because it is just my subjective judgement.

So far, so good. I am happy I had the surgery as the CPAP was driving me crazy with very disturbed uncomfortable sleep. I was very compliant using the machine every night, all night long for a year and a half and was getting good therapy, but uncomfortable sleep and could not see myself doing that for the rest of my life.

I had only hypopneas, which led me to feel that the surgery stood a good chance of curing me, so I decided to go ahead with it.

Dr. H. is a great doc, very caring and I think you would be in good hands with him.