New sleep apnea treatment hits milestone at St. John’s Health
JACKSON HOLE, Wyo. — A popular sleep apnea treatment hit a milestone at St. John’s recently with another successful surgery.
St. John’s Health announced Ear, Nose, Throat surgeon Martin Trott, MD, recently implanted the Inspire sleep apnea treatment system for St. John’s 50th patient since the program’s inception in 2020.
“It’s remarkable that this new program has helped so many patients in our region already,” said communications officer Karen Connelly. “Launching a new service during the challenging times of the pandemic really speaks to the commitment and leadership of Dr. Trott and the Pulmonology/Sleep team, including Dr. Haven Malish and Shawna Giles, APRN.”
Inspire is an FDA-approved outpatient surgical treatment for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), a common but disruptive sleep disorder that affects about 22 million Americans. OSA causes very poor sleep quality. Left untreated, OSA can be deadly, causing accidents, mood swings, memory loss, stroke, and heart attack.
Inspire is a proven effective treatment for individuals with OSA who haven’t been successful utilizing CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) masks or other treatment options such as oral appliances.
Inspire clinical trial results in 2014 concluded that patients who use Inspire treatment had significant reductions in sleep apnea events and substantial improvement in their quality of life. These improvements were sustained during a five-year follow-up study in 2019.
“I’m gratified when we are able to help patients restore their ability to sleep,” Dr. Trott said, “It improves wellbeing for our patients and also for their partners, who have typically been experiencing poor sleep as well, due to the patient’s snoring and restlessness.”
St. John’s first Inspire patient is the first to concur.
“It’s wonderful. Great sleep, no noisy machine and cumbersome hose, and most important, my wife loves it because I don’t snore anymore,” shared Bob Pisano, who said CPAP never worked for him.
Dr. Trott is among the Top 100 Inspire physicians for number of devices implanted in the U.S and has performed more Inspire procedures than any other physician in Wyoming.
