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Peripheral Nerve Interface Applications, Sleep Apnea

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Encyclopedia of Computational Neuroscience

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Definition

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is characterized by frequent collapse of the upper airways (UAWs) during sleep, and patients with OSA experience many apneas (breathing pauses) during the night.

Description of the Problem

The severity of this condition is graded by the apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) that indicates the number of apneic episodes per hour (normal AHI < 5 and severe AHI > 30). Sleep is therefore interrupted often, and this condition leads to a lowering of oxygen saturation in the blood. These patients often experience many symptoms such as chronic fatigue, impaired memory, congestive heart failure, decreased libido, and hypertension. This is a serious problem that affects 1–4 % of the population (Gislason et al. 1988). Both men and women are affected but in different numbers (Olsen et al. 1995). Several muscles contribute to maintain the patency of the airways with the genioglossus being the strongest contributor by generating tongue extrusion. Other muscles such as...

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References

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biomedical Engineering, Physiology, Biophysics and Neurosciences, Neural Engineering Center, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA

    Dominique M. Durand

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  1. Dominique M. Durand
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dominique M. Durand .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Atlanta, Georgia, USA

    Dieter Jaeger

  2. Department of Biomedical Engineering, Florida International University, Miami, Florida, USA

    Ranu Jung

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Durand, D.M. (2014). Peripheral Nerve Interface Applications, Sleep Apnea. In: Jaeger, D., Jung, R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Computational Neuroscience. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7320-6_207-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7320-6_207-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-7320-6

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