Overdrive reports that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and the Federal Railroad Administration have extended the comment period for its proposed rulemaking until July 8.
In the ANPRM, the agencies list 20 questions they would like answered in public comments. The questions, found here, touch on the problem of obstructive sleep apnea, the cost and benefits of treatment, screening procedures and diagnostics, medical personnel qualifications and restrictions and treatment effectiveness. Comments can be filed on with the DOT at this link.
The agencies held three public listening sessions in May, and several commenters, including the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, asked for an extension of the comment period to give commenters time to review and respond to the American Transportation Research Institute’s survey results on sleep apnea, which were released May 26.
Full coverage of the public listening sessions can be found at the links below.
On Improving Obstructive Sleep Apnea Surgery
Remembering that just 54 percent, of the really advanced adult obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) cases, will be able to use the CPAP, long term (5years).
Remembering that, because of their otolaryngologist has not done a comprehensive literature review on non surgical rapid (RME) maxillary expansion, as well as non surgical semi rapid maxillary expansion (SME) for those patients under age 30. And remembering that because their otolaryngologist was not trained nor sought training on how to effectively trim the inferior turbinates (PRIT) . And remembering that these same surgeons have not studied and nor performed the unilateral adult tonsillectomy (done under a combination of local and general anesthesia) in order to reduce postoperative morbidity (discomfort). (and then only in those adult cases in which the tonsils are truly massive).
In truth, simply by keeping the soft palate trim conservative, and by doing a trim of the intranasal sidewall structures (PRIT), why the success rate for OSA surgery can be raised from 25% up to around 85%…..and the postoperative morbidity can be greatly reduced by avoiding the adult tonsillectomy (or in cases of marked tonsillar hypertrophy, doing a unilateral tonsillectomy) and by conservatively modifying extensive palatal surgery….why with these simple modifications, surgery for OSA can save millions of patients the long term misery of decades of CPAP use.
To learn more about this, log on to the Amazon/Kindle eBook “On Improving Obstructive Sleep Apnea Surgery” by George Meredith MD. First 50 pages are free!
George Meredith MD
Virginia Beach, VA