The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that the first person in Nevada has received the Inspire transplant for the treatment of sleep apnea.
Carson City resident Don Fox couldn’t take it anymore.
The 72-year-old, who said he has suffered from sleep apnea for at least a decade, was often tired and took pills before resting.
He’d tried continuous positive airway pressure, or CPAP — a common treatment for obstructive sleep apnea that keeps airways open during sleep. But it didn’t work well for him.
“CPAP, it just blows you away. You can’t sleep,” he said.
A few years ago, Fox, who also has emphysema, began tracking a treatment method that wasn’t yet approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration: the Inspire Upper Airway Stimulation System.
This month, he became the first patient in Nevada to receive the Inspire implant, company spokesman Howard J. Green said.