Can Surgery Fix the Obstructive Sleep Apnea in Adults?

According to researchers, from the University of Adelaide (Australia), surgery for obstructive sleep apnea has not been established as a safe and effective procedure to remedy this health issue. The new study has been published in the most recent issue of the prestigious medical journal British Medical Journal (BMJ).

Sleep apnea, (also written as sleep apnea) is a disorder characterized by pauses in breathing during sleep. This condition is extremely dangerous for patients since there is an increased risk of heart attack during sleeping time.

Apnea episodes (translated as without breath) last enough time that one or more breaths are missed. During sleep many of these apnea episodes can occur repeatedly. Clinically speaking an apnea is defined as a problem when five or more events of sleep deprivation (more than 10 seconds) occurs during an hour of sleep time. Obstructive sleep apnea occurs mostly in middle-aged, overweight men.

The study, led by Dr. Madden, evaluated results and evidence of seven clinical trials and examined the efficacy and safety of surgery in treating obstructive sleep apnea. The review of these clinical and scientific evidence concluded that these surgical procedures did not have a true impact on obstructive sleep apnea patients.

The surgical procedure did not reduce obstructive sleep apnea symptoms. The improvements in quality of life in patients that went through the procedure were so little that the surgical procedure had no clear impact on patients.

There are alternative treatments for obstructive sleep apnea in adults such as positive airway pressure (CPAP) with weight and alcohol management. However, surgery is becoming a popular procedure, at least, in Australia, according to this new study.

More specifically, many studies found that 62% of the patients who had surgery experienced adverse events in regard to difficulty in swallowing, voice problems, and loss of smell and taste. Many of them (22%) reported having too much problems with the surgery and regreted going through the surgical procedure.