ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — Doctors at Highland Hospital in Rochester are touting the sleep and health benefits of the Inspire Device.

Dr. Sveta Karelsky discussed the device and what it’s designed to address Wednesday during News 8 at Sunrise.

“Obstructive sleep apnea is a very common condition in which our breathing during sleep is interrupted due to obstruction or collapse of the throat, which we also call the airway,” explained Dr. Karelsky. “This can lead to a number of very negative consequences and risks to your health – ranging from being sleepy and fatigued to exacerbating things like high blood pressure, diabetes, and even the increased risk of stroke. The most common treatment typically offered is a continuous positive airway pressure device or a CPAP mask, which a lot of people are familiar with, but this can be quite a challenging treatment to tolerate. And what we found is that part of the cause of obstructive sleep apnea is excessive relaxation of the muscles of the throat or airway and that’s precisely what the Inspire Device or the upper airway stimulator is designed to help with. It’s designed to help improve that muscle tone while it’s on in a patient who is sleeping with obstructive sleep apnea.”

Dr. Karelsky explained that before the Inspire Device is recommended, the patient first undergoes a thorough examination. “If the Inspire Device or upper airway stimulator is thought to be something that will help you, we’ll offer it to the patient and obviously involve the patient very closely in decision-making to make sure it’s the right thing for them. Ultimately, if this is the right treatment for somebody they will have a surgical procedure where the device is implanted. Part of the device is implanted to the upper chest, under the collarbone on the right side, and another part of the device – or the stimulating lead – is implanted in the neck around a nerve that actually helps contract or tense that musculature that I am talking about to improve the muscle tone of the throat.”

Highland Hospital is the Center of Excellence for the Inspire Device in the Northeast. Dr. Karelsky said the device has proven effective in patients. “It’s been very successful for our patients. Part of the reason that we’re honored to be named a Center of Excellence is the volume of patients that we’ve treated and treated successfully, and the outcomes that we’ve been able to accomplish for our patients. The goal is to reduce your sleep apnea very significantly or eliminate sleep apnea, and in most cases, we can accomplish those goals and really help people out.”

For more information about the Inspire Device, visit inspiresleep.com.