Hope for people suffering from sleep apnea: a device from the Clinical Hospital of Madrid could cure it

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If you suffer

or live with someone who suffers from this respiratory disorder related to night rest, you will surely be interested in reading this news.

The Hospital Clínico San Carlos in Madrid has begun to use a new device that improves the quality of life of patients and could eventually cure a hitherto chronic disease.

It is a portable device smaller than a mobile phone that detects when the normal process of breathing in is stopped and corrects it in real time by applying electromagnetic stimuli that are imperceptible to the person receiving them.

"In this way it is possible to open and dilate the upper airway, preventing breathing from being interrupted at night and

, they explain in the Ministry of Health.

The device, tested within the framework of a clinical trial with 22 patients, has allowed that in 88% of the cases a

has been verified after a training period of three weekly sessions of 20 minutes duration each for a month and a half.

All the participants also experienced a subjective improvement in night rest, both in terms of duration and quality.

With this treatment, as detailed in Health, "not only is muscle relaxation avoided and, consequently, obstruction of the airway during sleep, but a persistent daytime effect is also achieved thanks to the strengthening and increase in oropharyngeal muscle tone , since the electromagnetic wave impulses

involved in apnea", as observed in the study.

"If this change is consolidated, it could be considered as

for this disease without the need to resort to any device," says the head of the Pneumology section of the San Carlos Clinical Hospital, Myriam Calle.

At a minimum, it already represents "an important advance to improve the quality of life" of those who suffer from a disorder that affects 4% of women and 6% of adult men and whose prevalence increases with age.

According to Juan Luis Rodríguez Hermosa, pulmonologist and principal investigator of this study, "many of these patients need to be connected while they sleep to a kind of mask or continuous positive pressure equipment in the airway, which they also have to carry when they travel, until to the point that many patients

due to the discomfort it presents".

Sleep apnea is the most common disorder related to nighttime rest and is caused by repeated episodes of obstructed breathing during sleep, which usually last

, but can be longer .

The most common symptoms are snoring and excessive daytime sleepiness, in addition to other cognitive or behavioral problems.

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