Bilateral Hypoglossal nerve stimulation shows favorable results in Oropharyngeal lateral wall collapse

Introduction Hypoglossal nerve stimulation is an established therapy for patients suffering from obstructive sleep apnea. Recently, it has been shown that the presence of a complete lateral wall collapse at oropharyngeal level in the preoperative drug induced sleep endoscopy might by associated with less favorable response to hypoglossal nerve stimulation. Since bilateral hypoglossal nerve stimulation has shown favorable response in patients with complete concentric collapse at level of the soft palate, we investigated, if also patients with a complete lateral oropharyngeal wall collapse could benefit from this therapy.