Pulmonology & Respiratory Medicine

Airway and Therapeutic Devices

Positive airway pressure (PAP) therapy is a generic term applied to all sleep apnea treatments that use a stream of compressed air to support the airway during sleep. With PAP therapy, you wear a mask during sleep. A portable machine gently blows pressurized room air from into your upper airway through a tube connected to the mask. This positive airflow helps keep the airway open, preventing the collapse that occurs during apnea, thus allowing normal breathing. For optimal improvement, it's important to use your PAP machine every time you sleep including naps. Overall PAP therapy is a safe and effective treatment; however there are a few counter-indications. 

A major determining factor of upper airway patency during sleep is the activity of the genioglossus muscle. Activation of this muscle via stimulation of the hypoglossal nerve is a creative new approach for treatment of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Hypoglossal nerve stimulation therapy is commonly referred to as Inspire, a reference to the name of the company Inspire Medical Systems that developed the treatment, which was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2014