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Abstract Introduction Sleep disordered breathing is a common contributor to cardiovascular morbidities. Inspire™ hypoglossal nerve stimulation is an effective way to treat moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Although the cardiovascular effect of this relatively new treatment is not established, resolution of OSA is associated with reduced cardiac afterload and sympathetic tone and should be of benefit to the heart. Accordingly, we report on a small case series (n=6) of OSA patients treated with this device, with available echocardiograms before and after device therapy. Methods In a single center retrospective analysis, we compared echocardiograms from mean of 479 days before and mean of 464 days after device implantation. Results Mean apnea hypopnea index decreased from baseline of 41 events/hour to 9.7 events/hour. Echocardiographic data suggest that with treatment, cardiac chambers decrease in size (left ventricle 5.5 to 5.1 cm, right ventricle 4.3 to 4.0 cm, left atrial volume index 42 to 33 ml / m2). Left ventricular ejection fraction increases (43 to 51 %). Central venous pressure decreases (4.4 to 3 mmHg) and mitral and tricuspid valve regurgitation appear to be somewhat less. Conclusion In this first report of hypoglossal nerve stimulation therapy for OSA, treatment appears to have a salutary impact on cardiac structure and function. While the small number of patients makes it impossible to draw definitive conclusions, the consistent direction of trends for all the relevant parameters is notable. Larger, prospective studies are warranted to confirm these preliminary observations. Support (if any)
Gupta et al. (Sat,) studied this question.