sleep apnea treatment moving away from cpap

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SLEEP APNEA;
CHRISTMAS MIRACLE
07-jan-2009


To stop breathing up to 100 times an hour sounds bad enough. But recent research also links sleep apnea to 50% of hypertension, 25% of congestive heart failure, and 60% of strokes. These staggering numbers inspired two Washington Hospital Center docs, otolaryngologist Stan Chia and oral surgeon Ziad Ali, to open the Sleep Apnea and Snoring Clinic, to raise awareness and provide all available treatments. For an update, we got a good night's rest and visited their WHC office.

Did we catch Stan and Ziad here performing Hamlet? They're an odd couple, because apnea is usually handled by a sleep specialist, who refers to an ENT or dentist; however, by joining forces, these two offer a one-stop-shop for the drowsy. They can customize treatment depending on the cause, such as uvula size or excess tissue on the soft palate. Treatments range from oral devices, to jaw surgery that moves the tongue and tonsils forward. These interventions have a success rate of up to 98%. By comparison, the traditional treatment, continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), is so uncomfortable (a blast of air through the nose each night) that as many as 60% of sufferers prefer no treatment.

Sleep will be a luxury for Stan, who's expecting his first child in May. He's been at WHC for 3 years, after residency in San Diego. Ziad studied at University of Texas-Houston, and first had the idea for the clinic. When asked about its origin, he says "I saw our offices are next door, so I decided we could join forces." OK, maybe not a heartwarming story, but he says they've been driven by good results and plenty of patient success stories that begin with "I haven't slept like this in 10 years."