I snored a little...Stroke? Heart disease?
Snoring increases due to aging and decrease in muscle elasticity, resulting in a surge in the number of sleep apnea cases. According to Yale University's research team, people with obstructive sleep apnea have a 30% higher risk of heart-related death within four to five years, and the more severe these sleep apnea symptoms are, the greater the risk of heart and brain disease. In this regard, we listened to the story of the best sleep clinic expert in Korea.
Q. Park Bo-hyun, CEO of B&H Korea (hereinafter referred to as Park Bo-hyun): Please tell us more about snoring and sleep apnea.
A. Han Jin-kyu, director of the Seoul Special Sleep Clinic (hereinafter referred to as Han Jin-kyu): The sound of body part being blocked or its function falling during the breathing process from the nose to the airway is commonly known as snoring. Snoring is not a disease, it's a phenomenon that makes sounds. The problem associated with snoring is that when there is a sound, the air circulates and the oxygen supply becomes inconsistent, and when oxygen drops, the heart and brain are burdened, and when it occurs more than 5 times per hour, it became sleep apnea.
Q. Do you have any criteria for diagnosing sleep apnea syndrome?
A. Han Jin-kyu: Sometimes my patients tells me "My husband snores, but seems like he is breathing normally, so there's no sign of sleep apnea." However, the problem is not that the person stop breathing, is it losing oxygen while breathing. You can't tell by just looking at it. Doctors often confuse whether snoring is a simple snoring or snoring with sleep apnea. In order to accurately diagnose, sleep pattern can only be analyzed by checking it through a "polysomnography". Of course, not all snoring patients have apnea, and not all of them are oxygen-depleted. However, when snore causes loses of oxygen, apnea is likely to accompany.
Q. Park Bo-hyun: Please explain in detail why sleep apnea is dangerous.
A. Han Jin-kyu: Snoring with apnea is a scary thing. Not only insomnia, sleep talking, and tooth grinding, but diseases that effects the heart and brain can also be caused. When oxygen drops and blood pressure rises, high blood pressure, myocardial infarction, and cerebral infarction are likely to occur. Snoring, apnea are the most common causes of stroke and heart failure. In general, it is known that if sleep apnea is not treated, myocardial infarction occurs 23 to 25 times more and stroke occurs 4 to 5 times more than ordinary people. Thus, patients with sleep apnea must be treated.
Q. Park Bo-hyun: Please tell us about the treatment method.
A. Han Jin-kyu: Treatment methods vary depending on the patient's condition and the cause of snoring, but if snoring is accompanied by apnea, the standard treatment method is Positive Airway Pressure.
Surgery was meant to eliminate snoring all together, but many people experienced snoring coming back after a while. Difficulty breathing is due to clogging of the lower part of the tongue rather than the nose. When patients in the intensive care unit stopped breathing all of a sudden, it is likely due to sleep apnea. The treatment is whether to go for surgery or using positive airway pressure treatment, of course people would prefer the positive airway pressure treatment.
There have been no reports of any surgery other than positive pressure treatment to prevent cardiovascular complications caused by sleep apnea. It is recommended that people with apnea to be treated as soon as possible.
Q. Park Bo-hyun: I heard that there are cases where children experience snoring or apnea.
A. Han Jin-kyu: Snoring or apnea in structural problems requires treatment before the age of 12 in order to cure. When you're young, your bones stretch out, so you can correct them and shape your airway. However, when the airway is already narrowed, it becomes harder to widen as you get older. So, it is important to treat while they are young. When you sleep with your mouth open, your lower jaw falls back and your breathing hole narrows, thus Rhinitis can occur, become chapped, protruded, or the structure of the mandible can be broken. If you close your mouth, snoring will stop
If your snoring or apnea is a structural problem, then it should be treated before the age of 12 in order to avoid going through surgery like when you are an adult.
Q. Park Bo-hyun: Do you have any secret know-how in treating with Positive Airway Pressure?
A. Han Jin-kyu: Asian have different facial structure from Western people. Thus, the masks you wear are different. By the way, currently all of the positive airway pressure masks are American and Australian made. It's geared towards Westerners. We are in a situation where we have to use American fit product here in Asia, so we need know how to use them properly. Its strength is that it can be treated in the most experienced and fastest time while being well suited to Asian people. In addition, since the otolaryngology department and the neurology department are together when a patient with a sleep problem visits the hospital, treatment, examination, surgery, and prescription of medicine are conducted as a one-stop service in one night and two days. As for foreigners, you can take the equipment back to the hotel room.
Q. Park Bo-hyun: What made you specialize in sleep treatment?
A. Han Jin-kyu: My major is neurology. Sleep disorder is related to both stroke and headache. There weren't many doctors in this field and it is still considered an unexplored area. When I was seeing patients back then, there are many who can't sleep with a headache. But unfortunately, there were limited things I could do. Even if they slept well, headaches wouldn't stop, and prescribing medicine was everything. I wanted to do more so I went to the U.S. While I was there, I went around to many hospitals learning from each and every one of them the most advanced treatment out there, things I wouldn't have known if I was just in one. I realized "this is what the world's top hospitals are like," and then I finally found the direction I was going to take, and became confident and determined.
Q. I heard that the number of foreign patients is increasing. Any patient you remember?
A. Han Jin-kyu: The embassy reached out to see if they could send a patient to our hospital. After they came to see the facility and interviewed us, we were selected to treat the staff in need. Many foreigners already know well about positive airway pressure treatment and how it’s used. Since it is well known and all structures are tailored to Western patients, treatment can be carried out without difficulty.
Recently, the number of Chinese patients has increased. They had surgery but couldn't be cured. The most memorable case was where he snored three to four times, but once the positive airway pressure was used, his breathing return back to normal. In the case of Chinese patients, due to their facial structure, there are many people with round faces and shorter necks, so the demand for snoring treatment is expected to increase.
Q. Park Bo-hyun: Please let me know if there are any points to note during treatment.
A. Han Jin-kyu: Changing your sleeping posture, quit smoking, and exercising are all helpful to alleviate or prevent snoring, and among them, "avoid drinking alcohol" is the most important. Alcohol makes the condition very bad and if you drink alcohol, the snoring sound and pressure changes, making it difficult to treat.
Ask patients to stop drinking as much as possible. But for those who can't due to work reasons, you should use an automatic positive airway pressure device. Although it's not perfect, but at least the machine has sensor to adjust the pressure instead of the doctor doing manually.
Q. Park Bo-hyun: What’s your future plans for the hospitals.
A. Han Jin-kyu: I don't want to run a big hospital; I want to maintain it small and provide heartful treatments. Sleep-related illnesses require a lot of care and often needed to be treated longer, but the environment of hospitals is still very poor and unable to provide a comfortable environment for patients. So even if it means we have to remain small to do that, I still want to focus on giving the best care to my patients.
A. Han Jin-kyu, director of the Seoul Special Sleep Clinic (hereinafter referred to as Han Jin-kyu): The sound of body part being blocked or its function falling during the breathing process from the nose to the airway is commonly known as snoring. Snoring is not a disease, it's a phenomenon that makes sounds. The problem associated with snoring is that when there is a sound, the air circulates and the oxygen supply becomes inconsistent, and when oxygen drops, the heart and brain are burdened, and when it occurs more than 5 times per hour, it became sleep apnea.
Q. Do you have any criteria for diagnosing sleep apnea syndrome?
A. Han Jin-kyu: Sometimes my patients tells me "My husband snores, but seems like he is breathing normally, so there's no sign of sleep apnea." However, the problem is not that the person stop breathing, is it losing oxygen while breathing. You can't tell by just looking at it. Doctors often confuse whether snoring is a simple snoring or snoring with sleep apnea. In order to accurately diagnose, sleep pattern can only be analyzed by checking it through a "polysomnography". Of course, not all snoring patients have apnea, and not all of them are oxygen-depleted. However, when snore causes loses of oxygen, apnea is likely to accompany.
Q. Park Bo-hyun: Please explain in detail why sleep apnea is dangerous.
A. Han Jin-kyu: Snoring with apnea is a scary thing. Not only insomnia, sleep talking, and tooth grinding, but diseases that effects the heart and brain can also be caused. When oxygen drops and blood pressure rises, high blood pressure, myocardial infarction, and cerebral infarction are likely to occur. Snoring, apnea are the most common causes of stroke and heart failure. In general, it is known that if sleep apnea is not treated, myocardial infarction occurs 23 to 25 times more and stroke occurs 4 to 5 times more than ordinary people. Thus, patients with sleep apnea must be treated.
Q. Park Bo-hyun: Please tell us about the treatment method.
A. Han Jin-kyu: Treatment methods vary depending on the patient's condition and the cause of snoring, but if snoring is accompanied by apnea, the standard treatment method is Positive Airway Pressure.
Surgery was meant to eliminate snoring all together, but many people experienced snoring coming back after a while. Difficulty breathing is due to clogging of the lower part of the tongue rather than the nose. When patients in the intensive care unit stopped breathing all of a sudden, it is likely due to sleep apnea. The treatment is whether to go for surgery or using positive airway pressure treatment, of course people would prefer the positive airway pressure treatment.
There have been no reports of any surgery other than positive pressure treatment to prevent cardiovascular complications caused by sleep apnea. It is recommended that people with apnea to be treated as soon as possible.
Q. Park Bo-hyun: I heard that there are cases where children experience snoring or apnea.
A. Han Jin-kyu: Snoring or apnea in structural problems requires treatment before the age of 12 in order to cure. When you're young, your bones stretch out, so you can correct them and shape your airway. However, when the airway is already narrowed, it becomes harder to widen as you get older. So, it is important to treat while they are young. When you sleep with your mouth open, your lower jaw falls back and your breathing hole narrows, thus Rhinitis can occur, become chapped, protruded, or the structure of the mandible can be broken. If you close your mouth, snoring will stop
If your snoring or apnea is a structural problem, then it should be treated before the age of 12 in order to avoid going through surgery like when you are an adult.
Q. Park Bo-hyun: Do you have any secret know-how in treating with Positive Airway Pressure?
A. Han Jin-kyu: Asian have different facial structure from Western people. Thus, the masks you wear are different. By the way, currently all of the positive airway pressure masks are American and Australian made. It's geared towards Westerners. We are in a situation where we have to use American fit product here in Asia, so we need know how to use them properly. Its strength is that it can be treated in the most experienced and fastest time while being well suited to Asian people. In addition, since the otolaryngology department and the neurology department are together when a patient with a sleep problem visits the hospital, treatment, examination, surgery, and prescription of medicine are conducted as a one-stop service in one night and two days. As for foreigners, you can take the equipment back to the hotel room.
Q. Park Bo-hyun: What made you specialize in sleep treatment?
A. Han Jin-kyu: My major is neurology. Sleep disorder is related to both stroke and headache. There weren't many doctors in this field and it is still considered an unexplored area. When I was seeing patients back then, there are many who can't sleep with a headache. But unfortunately, there were limited things I could do. Even if they slept well, headaches wouldn't stop, and prescribing medicine was everything. I wanted to do more so I went to the U.S. While I was there, I went around to many hospitals learning from each and every one of them the most advanced treatment out there, things I wouldn't have known if I was just in one. I realized "this is what the world's top hospitals are like," and then I finally found the direction I was going to take, and became confident and determined.
Q. I heard that the number of foreign patients is increasing. Any patient you remember?
A. Han Jin-kyu: The embassy reached out to see if they could send a patient to our hospital. After they came to see the facility and interviewed us, we were selected to treat the staff in need. Many foreigners already know well about positive airway pressure treatment and how it’s used. Since it is well known and all structures are tailored to Western patients, treatment can be carried out without difficulty.
Recently, the number of Chinese patients has increased. They had surgery but couldn't be cured. The most memorable case was where he snored three to four times, but once the positive airway pressure was used, his breathing return back to normal. In the case of Chinese patients, due to their facial structure, there are many people with round faces and shorter necks, so the demand for snoring treatment is expected to increase.
Q. Park Bo-hyun: Please let me know if there are any points to note during treatment.
A. Han Jin-kyu: Changing your sleeping posture, quit smoking, and exercising are all helpful to alleviate or prevent snoring, and among them, "avoid drinking alcohol" is the most important. Alcohol makes the condition very bad and if you drink alcohol, the snoring sound and pressure changes, making it difficult to treat.
Ask patients to stop drinking as much as possible. But for those who can't due to work reasons, you should use an automatic positive airway pressure device. Although it's not perfect, but at least the machine has sensor to adjust the pressure instead of the doctor doing manually.
Q. Park Bo-hyun: What’s your future plans for the hospitals.
A. Han Jin-kyu: I don't want to run a big hospital; I want to maintain it small and provide heartful treatments. Sleep-related illnesses require a lot of care and often needed to be treated longer, but the environment of hospitals is still very poor and unable to provide a comfortable environment for patients. So even if it means we have to remain small to do that, I still want to focus on giving the best care to my patients.
#interview #인터뷰 #KMedicalInterview #HealthInformation #MedicalInformation #DiseaseInformation #Snoring #SleepApnea #PositiveAirwayPressure #Polysomnography #BrainDisease #HeartDisease #StrokePrevention #ChildSnoring
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CEO 박보현
메디컬 커머셜 플랫폼, 메디우스 (주)비앤에이치코리아 대표이사
국내최고 디지털마케팅 전문가
[월간 CEO&] 의료전문 컬럼니스트
인터뷰 문의:sales@bnhkorea.co.kr
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