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OCTOBER 2022 / $5
Cullman Regional First to Use BrainScope Technology By Jane eHrHarDt
A new diagnostic tool opens the door for physicians to identify minor brain injuries and concussions in minutes. “It gets patients the answers faster and gets them home quicker. They love that,” says Mark Christensen, MD, emergency department medical director at Cullman Regional Medical Center. Cullman is the first hospital in the Southeast to use the BrainScope. They were part of the pilot program, (CONTINUED ON PAGE 5)
Patient wears the BrainScope while Nurse reads the results on handheld device.
An Alternative for Sleep Apnea Sufferers Who Can’t Use CPAP By SteVe SpenCer
The American Medical Association estimates that obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) affects up to 30 million people. The condition, in which a person’s airway completely or partially closes during the night, can lead to a number of comorbidities. Poor sleep may be associated with an increase in insulin resistance, a precursor of diabetes. And because people with sleep apnea get less oxygen, it can elevate the possibility of heart attacks or stroke, as well as potential neurocognitive deficits. The gold standard for treating OSA is continuous positive airway pressure
(CPAP) in which the patient wears a mask that is connected through a hose to a motorized machine that delivers a continuous stream of pressurized air that acts like a stent to keep the airway open. The problem is that although the CPAP works well, compliance is very low. A study of over 20 years of data shows that, even with advances in the CPAP like quieter pumps and softer masks, only around 30 to 50 percent of patients use the machine regularly, if at all. “I’ve had patients who don’t wear their CPAP for a number of reasons,” said John Stafford, MD with ENT Associates of Alabama. “Some can’t wear it because of claustrophobia, while oth-
Inspire device with breathing and stimulator leads.
John Stafford, MD implants the Inspire.
www.birminghammedicalnews.com
ers are affected by PTSD. Sometimes people fall asleep before they’ve had a chance to put it on. And people might not take it when they go out of town. CPAP tolerance is so low that technical compliance for insurance purposes means that the patient is using it at least four days a week for four hours a night. That's very low.” Unfortunately, there was no effective alternative for CPAP until the Inspire was introduced a few years ago. Currently, potential candidates for Inspire are patients who have moderate to severe OSA shown on a sleep study within the
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