Patients with a common sleep disorder have been fitted with an app-controlled device that zaps the nerves in the tongue to help them breathe overnight in a UK first.
Sleep apnoea causes breathing to stop repeatedly during sleep and is thought to affect about 8 million people in the UK.
The most common form – obstructive sleep apnoea – happens when the walls of the throat relax and narrow or close, with symptoms including choking noises, loud snoring and waking up a lot.
The three-hour procedure to fit Nyxoah’s Genio implant was carried out by medics at University College London Hospitals NHS foundation trust (UCLH) this month.
One of the two patients, Natalie Boller, 63, was feeling better within days and will return to the clinic to have the device activated in the coming weeks.
She told the PA Media news agency she was looking forward to being more active, something her tiredness has prevented.
It comes as UCLH became the first centre in the UK to offer sleep apnoea patients a choice of nerve stimulators – the Genio or Inspire implant.
Both devices stimulate the hypoglossal nerve, which controls the muscles in the tongue and can be an alternative to continuous positive airway pressure (Cpap) machines.
Cpap machines are the first line of treatment for sleep apnoea and involve patients wearing a mask that blows pressurised air into the nose and throat while they sleep. However, it can be uncomfortable.
Consultant ENT and sleep surgeon Ryan Chin Taw Cheong said: “I’m very optimistic about the way things are moving, and I’m hoping that we will be able to make this technology and make this implant more available for the right patients.”
During her operation, surgeons made a 6cm incision below Boller’s chin and used a microscope to pinpoint the nerves that make the tongue protrude.
The stimulator is controlled by an external chip that is stuck to the chin using an adhesive patch before the patient goes to sleep.
During the day, the patch can be removed and the chip recharged, while patients are able to adjust the level of stimulation and monitor their sleep on a smartphone app.
Patients eligible for the implants must have moderate to very severe sleep apnoea, a body mass index of below 35, and must have tried using a Cpap machine.
Cheong added: “We’re hoping to be really driving this field forward to be able to offer these treatment options. So when a patient comes to our clinics, they are confident and they are assured that they will be able to access the best treatment for sleep apnoea on the planet.”
