Somnoplasty Procedure: Perhaps the Least Invasive Option to Treat Sleep Apnea

Of all the surgical options available to treat obstructive sleep apnea, the somnoplasty procedure seems to be the most popular choice –preferred both by surgeons as well as by the patients. There are good reasons for this.

First of all, the somnoplasty procedure is minimally invasive and does not require any hospital stay. Performed in the outpatient clinic of the ENT surgeon, the procedure entails the usual side effects and complications as expected from any nasal surgery and can be quickly brought under manageable limits with proper post-surgical medications.

If you have been advised sleep apnea surgery, you need to relax as this could be one of the best tips to get better sleep that you ever received. But when does sleep apnea surgery become imperative? When the condition is diagnosed as sleep apnea and deviated septum.

Here is how deviated septum is associated with sleep apnea:
• Deviated septum results in one nostril getting narrower than the other.
• This causes breathing difficulties and one of the first manifestations of this condition is snoring as the individual is compelled to breathe through the mouth, because of the obstruction caused by the deviated septum.
• When you ignore snoring and leave it unattended, it gradually worsens to a condition called sleep apnea, marked by frequent cessations of breathing. Each pause could last for 10 seconds or more and such pauses could strike 5 to 30 times in an hour.
• There are several types of sleep apnea and obstructive sleep apnea is most common occurring when there is a complete collapse of the upper respiratory tract.
• Thus, when the outcome is sleep apnea and deviated septum is the culprit, the most natural choice of treatment is somnoplasty procedure or any other surgical method the doctor opts for.

How is obstructive sleep apnea diagnosed?

The clinical sleep apnea symptoms that the patient complains of are the first indicators of the condition. These include: excessive daytime fatigue and sleepiness; rapid weight gain; shallow breathing with frequent waking; loud and persistent snoring, etc. Of course the doctor then performs a polysomnogram examination for medical confirmation of the condition. This test also assesses the severity of the condition and helps the doctor to identify the precise location of the obstructions in the respiratory tract.

What should I know about somnoplasty procedure?
• The main aims of the procedure are: to stiffen and remove the excessive tissues that are causing the obstruction in the respiratory tract. Also, to reposition the deviated septum to its rightful place within the nasal cavity.
• It does so by using the radiofrequency tissue ablation (RFTA) technology, involving burning some of the obstructive tissues and removing/stiffening them. While the scarred tissues get re-absorbed by the body, the stiffening allows the patient to breathe normally.
• The somnoplasty procedure uses a pre-heated Somnus device, called the electrode to burn the relevant, pre-identified tissues.
• Surgery for sleep apnea is often the last option for the doctor, when all other non-surgical options fail to yield desired results. In fact, surgery is the only way out when the diagnosis is deviated septum and sleep apnea.