Sleep Apnea Surgery

Sleep apnea can take a major toll on your overall health as well as your quality of life. At Henry Ford, we understand the importance of helping you find the best way to effectively treat sleep apnea. And because our Sleep Disorders and Research Center requires no referrals, you can access expert care quickly and easily. 

The experts at our Sleep Disorders and Research Center offer a wide variety of options for treating sleep apnea. Our multidisciplinary team includes sleep medicine doctors, psychiatrists, pulmonologists, neurologists, oral maxillofacial surgeons (OMFS), and ear, nose and throat (ENT) surgeons. Together, they create custom sleep solutions for each patient. 

In addition to non-invasive therapies, such as CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure), we perform several types of surgery to treat sleep apnea. 

Sleep apnea surgery we offer

CPAP is often the first line of treatment for moderate-to-severe sleep apnea. For patients who are unable (or prefer not) to use CPAP, surgery may also be an effective option. 
If other sleep apnea treatments haven’t provided relief, your doctor may recommend surgery. 

Surgical procedures we offer include:

• Tonsillectomy: Enlarged tonsils can narrow your airway while you sleep. Surgery to remove the tonsils can help relieve sleep apnea in adults and children. Tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy is often the best treatment for children with sleep apnea. 
• Nasal surgery: Septoplasty is a surgical procedure that straightens the septum (cartilage that sits between the two nasal cavities). When the nasal septum is straight, air flows more easily through your nasal passages and can prevent mouth breathing at night.
• Turbinate reduction: Turbinates are structures within the nasal passages that can swell and cause congestion. We treat enlarged turbinates with radiofrequency ablation or surgery. 
• Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty (UPPP or UP3): During this surgery, we remove excess tissue from the back of the throat. The surgeon may also remove your tonsils if you still have them. This helps clear blockages in the airway, allowing air to flow more easily. 
• Maxillomandibular advancement (MMA): Surgically realigning the upper and lower jaw — moving them forward — can help open up the area behind the tongue and soft palate. 
• Inspire® therapy: This surgically implanted device is a new technology that successfully treats sleep apnea in about 80 percent of patients. Once it’s implanted, you turn the device on before going to sleep. The device gently stimulates your upper airway to keep it open. 
• REmede System® : This is an implantable device used to treat moderate to severe Central Sleep Apnea in adults. This implantable system stimulates a nerve in the chest (phrenic nerve) to send signals to the large muscle that controls breathing (the diaphragm). These signals stimulate breathing in the same way that the brain signals breathing.

Ready to take the next step?

The sleep medicine experts at Henry Ford Sleep Disorders and Research Center see patients at many locations – including dedicated sleep labs – throughout southeast Michigan.

Request an appointment or call (313) 916-4417.