Sleep Apnea Surgery
Sleep apnea surgery
Sleep apnea usually results from the blockage of the airways because of throat collapse; the causes underlying the conditions are manifold and so are the treatments so far used for the affection. Sleep apnea surgery for instance consists of several common procedures meant to increase the diameter of the upper airways; nevertheless, the interventions offer neither 100% success chances nor total absence of risks. Sometimes, it may happen that more sleep apnea surgery procedures be necessary before the patient notices any improvement in his or her condition. The most common of interventions include the removal of tonsils and adenoids particularly in children.
Sometimes sleep apnea is caused by nasal polyps and similar growths, not to mention that all sorts of structural deformities could also be at the root of the breathing cessation problem. Sleep apnea surgery is the only treatment possible for such cases and the benefits are definitely higher than for the situations with other underlying causes. Nevertheless, under certain circumstances, the regrowth of the tissues is possible and an new sleep apnea surgery procedure may be required. Serious cases of breathing cessation are the ones that also present the highest risks when the surgical treatment is the only one acceptable.
Tracheostomy is one such example of sleep apnea surgery applied to life-threatening conditions. The intervention consists in making a small hole in the throat and inserting a windpipe and a tube that enable the person to breathe during sleep. During wake hours, the tube is not used, it remains closed as the person is capable of normally inhaling and exhaling. The procedure is highly successful in terms of solving the breathing cessation problem, however, it is pretty poorly tolerated by patients. Many doctors who perform sleep apnea surgery consider tracheostomy as an extreme measure, and make use of it accordingly.
Other sleep apnea surgery procedures are influenced by the existence of various anatomical deformities of the patient; a mis-shaped lower jaw will require surgical reconstruction in order to prevent sleep apnea episodes. The affection could be congenital or not, as there have been cases when people developed sleep apnea after an accident or a trauma in the throat area. Last but not least, we need to refer to those surgical treatments that reduce obesity. Since overweight is one of the major factors that lies behind sleep apnea, the reduction of the fat tissues from the throat area can solve the sleep breathing problem.