Sleep apnea is usually treated with the CPAP machine or positive pressure mask, and is effective in patients with mild, moderate, and severe sleep apnea.
By: Maria Camila Sanchez
December 12, 2023
The Sleep apnea It is the most common respiratory disorder in humans, characterized by the absence of respiratory flow when sleeping, according to the Colombian Society of Cardiology and Cardiovascular Surgery.
It is a condition that affects people of all ages, although it tends to affect adults more frequently, and is estimated to affect between 9% and 38% of the world‘s population.
Fortunately, recent advances on this issue have facilitated the development of important therapies that improve the quality of life of patients, however, Dr. Christian Castillo, intensive pulmonologist with a specialty in sleep medicine, explained exclusively for Medicina Magazine and Public Health that the effectiveness of treatments for this condition depend on the patient’s anatomy.
How is sleep apnea diagnosed?
The Sleep apnea It is diagnosed through studies both in laboratories specialized in sleep medicine and at home.
“Usually, in Puerto Rico, studies are done in the hospital. Connectors are placed in the patient’s brain, which are encephalograms, sensors are placed in the nose, chest and abdomen, and that gives us information about how the patient is breathing during the night.”
Based on the results of the encephalogram and the air pressures in the upper airway, specialists detect any decrease in flow, which may be complete (apnea) or partial (hypopnea).
“We count how many times the patient stops breathing and that gives us a key number, information about how the patient sleeps during the night to find the diagnosis and be able to treat them effectively.”
Current treatments
On the other hand, the Sleep apnea It is usually treated with the CPAP machine or positive pressure mask, and is effective in patients with Sleep apnea mild, moderate and severe. However, when patients do not tolerate this alternative, other alternatives are evaluated.
“There is mandibular advancement treatment, a nozzle that pushes the bottom of the jaw, and by doing so, creates more flow in the posterior area of the airway so that air can then pass.”
Also, he mentioned, currently, “there are much more advanced technologies that generate involuntary movements of the tongue during sleep to facilitate airflow through the airways.
“They are hypoglossal nerve stimulators, a type of peacemaker that is surgically implanted and this causes the tongue to move forward during the night when the patient goes to sleep to open the posterior airway.”
Among other options that patients can access are position therapies, which, as their name indicates, seek to keep the patient in a position in which the air flow can pass easily.
Comprehensive management
While it is true that this condition is treated by pulmonologists and sleep medicine professionals, Sleep apnea It is highly associated with other specialties.
“The cardiologist, for example, sees how the blood pressure during the night is improving in that patient with atrial fibrillation, which is already under control and the risks of a recurrence of atrial fibrillation are decreasing. We see neurologists’ patients with severe migraines in the morning, and when treating the Sleep apnea These patients improve significantly. “Patients with insomnia and depression, in whom we can treat insomnia, we see how depression improves and psychiatric illnesses also improve with all these interventions.”
The importance of maintaining an optimal weight
Now, although there are different alternatives through which the Sleep apneathe specialist asserted that the best treatment for this condition is to lose weight and maintain a healthy weight.
“Really, the most effective thing is to lose weight and maintain an optimal weight; is the only cure for Sleep apnea. We can treat it effectively with CPAP machines, but what cures Sleep apnea It’s weight loss.”
Likewise, he pointed out that it is important to maintain a routine in which sleep hygiene is preserved, and the same is respected on holidays and weekends.
“To patients who do not sleep well, one of the pieces of advice I can give them is to maintain a constant schedule structure. For example, you go to bed on weekdays at 10, and get up at 6. Keep that same schedule on weekends. Don’t sleep until 10 or 11 in the morning, keep that schedule consistent.”