Drug-induced sleep endoscopy is a safe and effective means to bring about sleep
Researchers from Penn Medicine have developed a safe and effective technique for inducing sleep in patients with severe obstructive sleep apnea. The new procedure, known as drug-induced sleep endoscopy (DISE), uses progressive doses of anesthesia to pharmacologically induce sleep to the point of the obstruction-causing apnea in a short time frame without a dip in blood oxygen level and with few side effects.
The Penn team recently tested the procedure in 97 patients with severe sleep apnea who were candidates for transoral robotic resection of the tongue, the removal of a section of the tongue where it meets the epiglottis to prevent the tongue from obstructing the airway during sleep, the most common surgical procedure for the treatment of severe sleep apnea.
TransOral Robotic Surgery (TORS) was originally developed by Penn head and neck surgeons for the removal of benign and malignant tumours of the mouth and throat.