Snore No More With Transoral Oral Robotic Surgery
It is a known tact that the most common time a heart attack strikes, resulting in sudden death, is either late at night or in the early parts of the morning, when one is actually sound asleep. And worldwide research and statistics prove beyond doubt, that Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) is one of the important conditions responsible for it.
What Is Obstructive Sleep Apnea?
Snoring, which is a common social problem is the vibratory sound produced when the air passage (windpipe) gets partially blocked during the time a person is in a so-called, deep sleep. When the air passage gets completely blocked, it is called Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA). And when this happens, the oxygen levels in the body is reduced, making the brain wake the person up from deep sleep, resulting in a temporary opening of the airway, so as to resume breathing.
This viscous cycle continues the whole night leading to sleep fragmentation and inadequate rest. The result is daytime sleepiness, irritability and fatigue, which in the long run leads to blood pressure, diabetes, and heart disease. If the choking episodes occur frequently and for a longer duration (severe OSA) one is prone to suffer a heart attack, heart failure, stroke etc.
Air Mask Treatment
For many years, OSA was treated with an air mask which is required to be worn by the person throughout the night for a lifetime, to push extra air into the airway to prevent himselfTherself from collapsing. However, approximately two-thirds of the people are unable to follow the air mask solution and remain untreated, However, thanks to the advancement in technology, currently OSA has a definitive treatment in the country.
Transoral Oral Robotic Surgery
During this procedure that cures snoring, a patient is put to sleep and made to snore in an endoscopy room with the help of medication. A tiny camera is then passed through the nose to figure out the area within the nose and throat, responsible for snoring and the sleep apnea. Subsequently,with the help of plasma (coblation) technology or Da Vinci robotic arms, the tissues in the throat are trimmed without any bleeding or incision. Most patients are cured by this minimal invasive surgery.
The USP of this robotic arms technology is that it gives the surgeons improved precision and dexterity in accessing the tongue’s base for surgery purpose. The transoral oral robotic surgery is performed by surgeons using robotic arms wherein, the operating surgeon’s hand movements are translated in the computer-enhanced system, which are precisely carried out by the smaller instruments inside the patient’s body, by accessing the small space at the base of the tongue.