Systems and methods according to the present invention use an electrical pulse generator system, which may be external to or implanted in an animal body, to provide therapeutically effective electrical stimulation to maintain or improve airway patency, such as to treat sleep apnea by the stimulation of target nerve (s) or their branches using one or more leads and one or more electrodes implanted in, on, around, or near the target nerve (s). Examples of a target nerves to be stimulated to maintain or improve upper airway patency, preferably through upper airway muscle reflex activation, are the internal branch of the superior laryngeal nerve (iSLN), the glossopharyngeal nerve, and/or the trigeminal nerve, and/or any of the trunks, branches, or divisions of such nerves.
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