[Treatment of sleep apnea syndromes]

NECESSARY TREATMENT: Sleep apnea syndrome requires treatment because it affects cardiovascular and cerebrovascular morbidity and mortality and has important neuropsychological consequences with the risk of accidents due to impaired wakefulness. The patientís quality of life is greatly altered. GENERAL MEASURES: Patients should be informed of the risk due to the lack of sleep, advised that alcohol tranquilizers and hypnotic drugs are contraindicated, and counseled about loosing weight, the most difficult problem for obese patients. POSITIVE PRESSURE VENTILATION: Continuous positive pressure ventilation with a facial mask acts like a pneumatic prosthesis holding the airways open during sleep. Sleep can be reconstructed by eliminating the recorded pathological nocturnal events and thus reducing diurnal hypersomnia. Quality of life is improved and accidents related to diminished wakefulness are avoided. Death rate in treated patients is significantly lower than in non-treated patients. In France, the national health care system will reimburse positive pressure ventilation for sleep apnea syndromes recognized to cause more than 30 events per hour of recording or fragmented sleep due to respiratory impairment. OTHER TREATMENTS: Indications for other treatments in case of moderately severe sleep apnea syndrome (or if health care benefits are not recognized for positive pressure ventilation) are currently debated. No medication has been proven to be effective. Mandibular advancement ortheses are in the development stage and require multidisiplinary cooperation to verify their efficacy. Velar surgery has been proposed but is usually disappointing except for young patients actively participating in an integrated surgical treatment strategy.