Upper airway anesthesia reduces phasic genioglossus activity during sleep apnea

摘要

ew hypothesize that stimulation of upper-airway mechanoreceptors during obstructive apnea aug- ments upper airway muscle activity. If so, upper-airway anesthesia (UAA) should reduce mechano- receptor output and therefore upper-airway muscle activity. To test this hypothesis, we studied the effect of UAA on the relationship between the phasic activity of the moving-time average (MTA) of the genioglossus electromyogram (EMG-GG) and the esophageal pressure deflection (DP) during ob- structive apneas in non-rapid-eye-movement (NREM) sleep in a group of six men with severe sleep apnea.