FRIDAY, April 24, 2026 (HealthDay News) -- For adults with moderate-to-severe obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), proximal hypoglossal nerve stimulation (pHGNS) yields a clinically significant response versus control at month 7, according to a study published online April 21 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
Atul Malhotra, M.D., from the University of California San Diego in La Jolla, and colleagues examined the efficacy and safety of pHGNS in adults with moderate-to-severe OSA in a seven-month randomized controlled trial followed by a six-month open-label extension conducted at 23 U.S. health centers. A total of 104 patients aged 22 years or older underwent implantation with pHGNS at baseline and were randomly assigned to begin therapy at month 1 (treatment group; 67 participants) or month 7 (control; 37 participants).
The researchers found that at month 7, 58.2 and 13.5 percent of patients assigned to treatment and control, respectively, achieved the primary end point (greater than 50 percent improvement from baseline in the apnea-hypopnea index [AHI] and AHI below 20 events/hour at month 7), and oxygen desaturation index was reduced by at least 25 percent in 68.7 and 37.8 percent of patients, respectively. In the treatment group, but not the control group, the median Epworth Sleepiness Scale score improved from baseline to month 7. There were no reports of serious procedure-related adverse events.
"pHGNS therapy provided clinically relevant improvements in AHI, sleep quality, and patient-reported outcomes," the authors write. "These findings support continued clinical evaluation of pHGNS therapy to treat OSA."
Several authors disclosed ties to the biopharmaceutical industry, including to LivaNova, which funded the study.