Zapper in your chin to help stop snoring

ATINY electric device implanted in the chin is being tested as a new way to tackle snoring. The pill- sized gadget is placed under the skin in a minor procedure. It is positioned so that it touches the hypoglossal nerve, which controls tongue movements and runs from the brainstem deep in the brain to the underside of the tongue.

The device, which is about to be tested in a trial of 25 patients, is powered by a stick- on battery, worn under the chin at night.

When the battery is in place, the device sends small, painless electric impulses to the nerve and muscles of the tongue constantly, causing it to contract during sleep.

This prevents the tongue from dropping back over the airway, which can contribute to sleep apnoea, when airflow is cut off for up to ten seconds at a time.

Not only does this interrupt sleep, it also leads to loud snoring as air has to squeeze through a narrowed airway, which causes the tissues of the nose and throat to vibrate.

Around three million people in the UK have sleep apnoea. Left untreated, it can lead to daytime fatigue and increases the risk of high blood pressure, stroke or heart attack. After lifestyle changes, including losing excess weight (to take pressure off the airway), patients are given continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) devices, a mask that delivers a continuous supply of compressed air during sleep to keep the airway open and the tongue in place.

But up to half of patients complain of discomfort, skin irritation or the device being too noisy to sleep in. The new treat- ment, known as bilateral hypoglossal nerve stimulation, may be an easier option for some. Once in place, it cannot be felt or heard.

The device is placed into the chin so that tiny electrodes inside it touch the nerve and muscle that move the tongue.

The tiny battery that activates the wireless signals to the hypoglossal nerve is stuck onto the skin under the chin each night with a plaster. The signals make the tongue contract over a full night’s sleep of roughly eight hours, preventing airway blockage during sleep.

Each morning patients remove the plaster and the battery is plugged into a charger.

It’s thought that electrically stimulating the nerve in the tongue prompts the motor cortex centre in the brain to message the tongue, telling it to move.

An international trial of the device involving 25 patients with sleep apnoea will start in May.

‘ I t’s fascinating to see applications of nerve stimulation like this for treating insomnia,’ says Professor Jaydip Ray, an ear, nose and throat consultant at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals.

‘ The current management options are intrusive and uncomfortable, resulting in poor uptake. If it is successful, this minimally invasive procedure with remote charging will make it an attractive alternative.’

MEANWHILE, untreated sleep apnoea in children may affect brain development.

U.S. researchers compared brain scans of 25 children with and without sleep apnoea and found that those with the condition had less grey matter — the tissue that houses crucial brain cells — in a number of key areas, including the frontal cortices, which handle movement and memory.

Researchers say it’s unclear what the direct impact is on dayto-day abilities, but future trials will explore this, they wrote in the journal Scientific Reports.