Today (10/7) on TV: Pillar Procedure

[roster]

http://thedoctorstv.com/

Treatment for snoring will be on 'The Doctors'

12:00 AM CDT on Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Nancy Churnin

Here's one show about snoring that's not a snore.



REX C. CURRY/Special Contributor
Dr. Craig Schwimmer is a snoring specialist. Dr. Craig Schwimmer, founder and medical director of the Snoring Center, with locations in Dallas and Fort Worth, will make a guest appearance on the new, nationally syndicated talk show, The Doctors, today at 5 p.m. on KTXA-TV (Channel 21).

Dr. Schwimmer will discuss and demonstrate a quick, minimally invasive treatment for snoring and sleep apnea called the pillar procedure with the show's host, emergency room physician Dr. Travis Stork.

The procedure involves the insertion of small woven inserts into the roof of the mouth that stiffen the soft palate, decreasing its vibration and reducing snoring and airway obstruction. It's an alternative to the use of the Continuous Positive Airway Pressure mask, which looks like a fighter pilot's air mask.

Dr. Phil McGraw and his son, Jay McGraw, are the executive producers of The Doctors, which you can visit at http://www.thedoctorstv.com. Dr. Schwimmer, a board-certified otolaryngologist (don't you love that word?), specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of disruptive snoring and sleep apnea. For more on the Snoring Center, visit http://www.snoring center.com.

Nancy Churnin

http://thedoctorstv.com/

[kteague]

Hi Rooster. I just watched the show and they did say that the person getting the procedure live on TV had been checked to make sure she didn't have obstructive sleep apnea. Since the segment wasn't about sleep anea, I didn't expect any more than that.

What did disappoint me was the segment on chin implants. I thought of James Skinner and Swordz and others whose jawbones are formed in such a way as to intrude upon airway space. I would like to have heard mention of making sure with chin implant patients that there isn't a medical issue involved.

Kathy

[gasp]

I'm recording it today. Mine has another topic with snoring so I wonder if it's the same one. I'll let you know.

[rested gal]

For new readers who might be wondering, "Pillar Procedure??? What's that?" and didn't get to see the show, you can find a lot of topics by people who've had that done...in these links:

LINKS to surgery, turbinates, Pillar, TAP experiences
viewtopic.php?t=2836

[GumbyCT]

Sorry I missed this. Is there something on U-Tube?

[roster]

Sorry I missed this. Is there something on U-Tube?

On Doctors TV show they did the procedure on stage on a lady patient. It was a pretty impressive demonstration in that it was very quick and the patient seemed to have very little discomfort.

I don't think the show video is posted on youtube, but go to youtube.com and search on "pillar procedure". You will find several other videos about the procedure.

[gasp]

The Doctors Snoring Segment

The segment highlighted a women who was a snorer and diagnosed as a "socially disruptive snorer". They "ruled out serious causes of her snoring like sleep apnea".

They showed a computerized generated image as the doctor described "with the pillar procedure we take these needles and insert them [pillars] into the [soft] pallet in the roof of the mouth and place implants inside. And these implants are really nothing more than stitches, its permanent suture, it's the same stuff we've used for 50 years. The doctor commented you have to have the proper anatomy to be a good candidate for the procedure.

The premise is that the pillars will stiffen the soft pallet so that it doesn't vibrate thereby causing snoring.

Veronica, a live patient had the procedure done on the show. She had 4 pillars in and the doctor mentioned that 4 - 5 pillars and men usually get 5 pillars. The procedure was very quick and took under a minute to actually inject the pillars into the soft pallet.

[roster]

.........
The premise is that the pillars will stiffen the soft pallet so that it doesn't vibrate thereby causing snoring.

.....

It was interesting to me that they claim the pillars do not themselves make the soft palate stiffer. However the soft palate forms scars around the pillars which causes it to stiffen.

I did not understand if the scars are a result of injury or a response to the foreign matter (pillars) left in the palate.

[Snoredog]

Restore spends a lot of money on Public Relations, even has a dedicated firm for doing that.

Do a Google search for: +Pillar +extruded +implant

If anyone stumbles across how it keeps your tongue from falling into the back of the throat, I'd like to see it. I'd
also like to see how it forces oxygen into your lungs when you are not breathing.

[roster]

.......
If anyone stumbles across how it keeps your tongue from falling into the back of the throat, I'd like to see it. .........

I am thinking that Restore needs to do a joint venture with Aspire Medical, http://www.aspiremedical.com/tech_us.html.

Between the two of them, the soft palate can be held up and the tongue kept forward.

All that is left is an inventive device to pull the beer belly down into the pants.

[DreamStalker]

I'll settle for the beer belly device and keep the CPAP gear

[gasp]

.........
The premise is that the pillars will stiffen the soft pallet so that it doesn't vibrate thereby causing snoring.

.....

It was interesting to me that they claim the pillars do not themselves make the soft palate stiffer. However the soft palate forms scars around the pillars which causes it to stiffen.

I did not understand if the scars are a result of injury or a response to the foreign matter (pillars) left in the palate.

This from the show:
The pillars are effective for "anatomically appropriate patients, the doc has to look and say, yeah, it's the soft pallett and if that's the case we have a 90% success rate". In response to one of the doctors saying "theoretically tonight she may not snore" another doctor answered "this really works largely because of scar formation, so we put these stitches in and they will stiffen the pallet a little bit, but mostly what will happen is in the next couple of weeks is her body will form scar tissue around and between them."

[gasp]

I didn't read through the entire post to see if someone else posted this - if so, sorry - here is the Pillar Procedure on The Doctor's TV show on YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMKFhw5vfdg

[hauntingkongs]

Today (10/7) on TV: Pillar Procedure.its a good show .i like it and its good.thanks chin implant