How Sleep Apnea Treatment Is Out of Order (Editor’s Message)

ADVENT alerts many patients that they have “two issues: a nose issue and a throat issue,” according to Kandula. And he explains that even if the patient feels better once his nasal passages are healthy, that’s simply a false sense of security until the ticking time bomb of their OSA is also treated. “We do everything in our power to prevent them from falling through the cracks. We provide them with a convincing argument up front,” Kandula says.

Kandula expresses regret that many OSA patients are sent to an ENT only as a last resort. After failing multiple therapies, they may be referred for an invasive sleep apnea surgery. But Kandula says true sleep apnea surgeries would rarely be needed if the patients’ nose and throat issues were treated at the start. 

“If [ENTs] step into that void that exists and simply help to steer patients in the right direction, I think we’d do the world a much greater service,” he says.

“The answers aren’t floating in outer space. The tools that currently exist, such as balloon sinuplasty, turbinate reduction, oral appliances and CPAPs combined with a nose that’s working, are what we need,”  Kandula says. “I’m looking forward to the next advancements that come along, but what we have now just needs to reach those who need it.”

Sree Roy is editor of Sleep Review.

Top photo: ADVENT location in Vernon Hills, Ill