Tongue-base suspension with a soft tissue-to-bone anchor for obstructive sleep apnea: Preliminary clinical results of a new minimally inversive technique

The Repose system is a new minimally invasive technique for tongue-base sus pension in the treatment of sleep-disordered breathing caused by tongue-bas e collapse. It involves the insertion of a titanium miniscrew with attached suture into the anterior intraoral mandible and passing the suture through the tongue base. The procedure was performed in 16 patients with sleep-dis ordered breathing. Fourteen patients reported an improvement in daytime sle epiness, and their bed partners reported an improvement in snoring. The mea n respiratory distress index before surgery was 35. Two months after surger y, the mean respiratory distress index was 17, an improvement of 51.4% (P = 0.001, 2-tailed t test). These preliminary results show the initial effica cy and safety of this new surgical procedure.