At the Forefront of Innovative Treatment

Norton Sleep Center offers the Inspire surgical implant to treat Louisville and Southern Indiana patients with sleep apnea.

The Inspire device stimulates the hypoglossal nerve to tighten your tongue and upper airway muscles while you sleep, to improve airflow. Not all forms of sleep apnea can be treated with the implanted stimulator. Also, if you have a condition that requires magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) frequently, you won’t be able to get the implant.

Your board-certified and fellowship-trained physician at Norton Sleep Center can evaluate whether the stimulator is an option.

The typical patient who gets the surgical implant has moderate to severe sleep apnea. PAP therapy hasn’t been helpful or was too intrusive.

Getting an Inspire Sleep Apnea Implant

Evaluation for the implant will include a drug-induced sleep endoscopy. This allows your sleep specialist to see whether your anatomy is conducive to the stimulator. Under medication that causes you to lose consciousness, your specialist will look to see how your airway collapses and determine whether the stimulator would help.

Your sleep specialist will implant the stimulator during outpatient surgery while you are under general anesthesia. A stimulation wire wraps one of the hypoglossal nerve branches. A second wire along the rib cage senses your breathing pattern to trigger the stimulator at the right time.

The stimulator itself is placed in the upper right portion of your chest.

To learn more about the Inspire upper airway stimulator, visit InspireSleep.com.

Norton Sleep Center: Comprehensive Care That Fits Your Schedule

Norton Sleep Center locations are staffed with fellowship-trained and board-certified physicians and sleep technologists who are experienced in diagnosing and treating a variety of sleep disorders.

• All locations are accredited by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine — the gold standard for evaluating sleep medicine services.
• We offer home sleep studies, inpatient sleep testing and a full suite of treatment options.
• Our state-of-the-art sleep labs offer private, comfortable testing suites with full- or queen-size beds and showers. Sleep studies can be scheduled seven nights a week.
• Our team of providers has more than 200 years’ collective experience diagnosing and treating sleep disorders.
• We have four convenient locations: Norton Audubon Hospital campus, Norton Brownsboro Hospital campus, Pleasure Ridge Park and on Newburg Road.
• We work with patients in the transportation industry and the U.S. Department of Transportation to assist with required verifications to show sleep therapy compliance.
• Our physicians specialize in diagnosing sleep disorders and giving you a personalized treatment plan.
• Our sleep apnea treatment experience includes continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) and bilevel positive airway pressure (BiPAP), CPAP alternatives such as oral devices, and Inspire upper airway stimulation.