A novel tongue implant for tongue advancement for obstructive sleep apnea: feasibility, safety and histology in a canine model.

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a sleep related breathing disorder caused by partial or complete collapse of the upper airway during sleep. The disease is linked with important cardiovascular and cerebrovascular morbidity and mortality. Tongue base collapse is a major cause of upper airway occlusion in OSA and present surgical procedures to prevent this are invasive and inefficient. A novel implantable system to stabilize the tongue was evaluated in a canine model for feasibility, safety and histology. Successful implantation of the Advance System was performed in 21 canines and follow-up evaluations were performed at 30, 60, 90, 120 and 150 days. No technical or clinical adverse events were seen during the procedure. Minor clinical adverse events at some of the follow-up evaluations were treated successfully. Histologic evaluation of the implant was performed at different time points during follow-up and showed good biocompatibility, stability and osteointegration. The outcome of this study resulted in an implant for adjustable tongue advancement in humans with OSA.