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Panel Presentations

Sleep Medicine

Redefining Success with Hypoglossal Nerve Stimulation: Current Approaches to Assessing Therapy Effectiveness

Monday, October 13, 2025
8:00 AM - 9:00 AM EDT
Location: 136
Disclosure(s):
Yi Cai, MD:

faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

Courtney T. Chou, MD:

faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

PROGRAM DESCRIPTION: Hypoglossal nerve stimulation is an important and relatively novel treatment option for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). In recent years, our field has increasingly recognized the limitations of traditional measures of hypoglossal nerve stimulation therapy effectiveness. In particular, reliance on in-lab titration polysomnography and a focus on the apnea-hypopnea index have significant shortcomings.

During this session, the panelists will share current paradigms in optimal treatment success monitoring (including through incorporation of home polygraphy) and how these address the limitations with traditional success measures. Panel experts will then review the role of consumer sleep technologies in enhancing longitudinal disease monitoring. Lastly, panelists will discuss how to apply novel OSA measures (e.g. hypoxic burden, heart rate response) that have been adopted in the sleep medicine field to assess patients’ OSA-related health outcomes. Ultimately, at the end of this session, attendees will have an informed answer to a common patient question: how effective is hypoglossal nerve stimulation, truly?

OUTCOME OBJECTIVE 1: Understand the limitations of in-lab titration polysomnography for measuring hypoglossal nerve stimulation success and the current paradigms for defining treatment effectiveness.

OUTCOME OBJECTIVE 2: Describe potential applications of consumer sleep technologies in the longitudinal care of hypoglossal nerve stimulation patients.

OUTCOME OBJECTIVE 3: Evaluate novel OSA measures in hypoglossal nerve stimulation patients and assess the implications for patients’ cardiometabolic health.

BACKGROUND STATEMENT: Traditional methods of defining treatment effectiveness with hypoglossal nerve stimulation tend to inflate therapy success rates. Otolaryngologists should be familiar with current paradigms and comprehensive approaches to assessing therapy success.

Comprehensive Otolaryngology Track Statement :

    Panelist(s)

  • Yi Cai, MD

    Director of Sleep Surgery
    Columbia University
    New York, NY, United States

    Disclosure(s):

    faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.

  • JC

    Jolie L. Chang, MD

    Professor
    University of California, San Francisco
    San Francisco, California, United States

    Disclosure information not submitted.

  • Colin T. Huntley, MD

    Associate Professor
    Thomas Jefferson University
    Philadelphia, PA, United States

    Disclosure information not submitted.

    • Moderator(s)

  • Courtney T. Chou, MD

    Clinical Assistant Professor
    NYU Department of Otolaryngology
    New York, NY, United States

    Disclosure(s):

    faculty for this accredited education activity has no relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.