Sajan Goud Lingala, associate professor of biomedical engineering and radiology, is leading a new study to help those struggling with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), a common cause of snoring.
Nearly 30 million in the United States are affected by OSA, but as many as 70% of patients are intolerant to the preferred treatment — continuous positive airway pressure, or CPAP.
A new surgical procedure called hypoglossal nerve stimulation was approved in 2014, but screening to determine which patients can benefit is lacking. The focus of Lingala’s study, which includes scholars in otolaryngology and neurology, is to improve the screening process for hypoglossal nerve stimulation.
The project is being backed by a five-year, $2 million R01 grant from the National Center on Sleep Disorders Research.