The Division of Sleep Surgery in the Department of Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Surgery focuses on treating patients with sleep disordered breathing, including snoring and various degrees of obstructive sleep apnea. Expert surgeons provide comprehensive evaluations to provide patients with state-of-the-art treatment options, often helping patients who are not sufficiently treated with positive-pressure therapy find alternative solutions. Common options for patients include office-based procedures for snoring, oral appliance therapy, nasal surgery, a variety of novel throat surgeries targeting specific anatomy and and upper airway stimulation (also called neurostimulation).
Clinical services include:
- Office endoscopy
- Sleep study
- Sleep endoscopy
- Surgical treatment of nasal obstruction — turbinoplasty, septoplasty, functional rhinoplasty
- Office-based procedures — injection snoreplasty, suture snoreplasty, RF treatment
- Tonsillectomy
- Expansion pharyngoplasty and other palatal surgeries
- Hyoid myotomy and suspension
- Tracheotomy
- Upper airway stimulation (Inspire™, Genio™ by Nyxoah)
- Oral appliance therapy
The division boasts Indiana’s first and only multi-disciplinary program for upper airway stimulation, co-created in the early 2010's and directed by Noah Parker, MD. The IU Health Upper Airway Stimulation Program incorporates sleep surgery, sleep medicine and sleep psychology to optimize the care and management of patients who choose neurostimulation to treat their obstructive sleep apnea. The program was the first multi-disciplinary team in Indiana to offer neurostimulation through the first FDA-approved device, Inspire™, and was the first in the Midwest to offer the second FDA-approved device, Genio™ by Nyxoah. Given the pioneering nature of the program in the field of neurostimulation, many hundreds of patients have now been successfully implanted with the the currently approved neurostimulation devices under the care of this successful team of physicians.
The team has grown since its inception years ago, adding Alhasan N. Elghouche, MD, who trained with Dr. Parker; David A. Campbell, MD, who trained with Tucker Woodson, MD at the Medical College of Wisconsin; and Rehab Talat, MD, the first sleep surgeon to complete a fellowship in sleep medicine (through Henry Ford Health).
The Division of Sleep Surgery is actively engaged in research, including single and multi-institutional studies evaluating sleep surgical techniques and the interplay between sleep apnea and co-existent sleep disorders. Leaders from the team are also active in international societies, such as the International Surgical Sleep Society and the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, that help to develop many of the research initiatives, educational opportunities, policies and patient advocacy efforts necessary for the advancement of the field. The team serves patients through multiple locations in Indianapolis and the surrounding regions.
