Sleep Medicine Edition | The Patient Who Cannot Tolerate CPAP: Alternative Approaches to Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Host: Darryl S. Chutka, M.D. [@chutkaMD] Guest: Eric J. Olson, M.D. It’s estimated that about 30 million people in the U.S. have sleep apnea and the worldwide prevalence is approaching 1 billion. The traditional treatment is continuous positive airway pressure or CPAP which is quite effective and used to enhance ventilation. Unfortunately, there are a significant number of patients with sleep apnea who can’t tolerate CPAP. This may result in an untreated patient, increasing their risks to a variety of potentially serious complications. How do we manage the CPAP-intolerant patient? What else is available for the patient with sleep apnea? Which patients are candidates for these alternative treatments and how effective are they? In this podcast, we’ll discuss these questions and more with our guest, sleep expert Eric J. Olson, M.D., from the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care at the Mayo Clinic. Connect with the Mayo Clinic’s School of Continuous Professional Development online at https://ce.mayo.edu/ or on Twitter @MayoMedEd.