NOBLE ANESTHESIA-AIR, INC. presents a unique system of devices used to maintain the patency of the upper airway and to facilitate spontaneous respiration in the anesthetized patient.

Obstructive Sleep Apnea ( OSA ) is a disorder of normal sleep in which sleep induces relaxation of the pharyngeal musculature to allow the collapse and obstruction of the upper airway of the patient. In OSA the patient rescues himself from asphyxiation in a cyclic breathing pattern triggered by neuro-mechanical reflexes of the upper airway.

In the Syndrome of Narcogenic Obstructive Respiration ( SNOR ), relaxation of the pharyngeal musculature is drug-induced and the neuro-mechanical reflexes are also depressed. There tends to be no self-rescue from airway obstruction and, without outside intervention, asphyxia will rapidly ensue.

The progressive drug-induced depression of anesthesia causes apnea from obstruction of the upper airway to occur well before the central drive to the diaphragm ceases. If this obstruction is eliminated, the patient will continue to breathe spontaneously down to very deep levels of central nervous system depression and surgical anesthesia.

In recognizing the similarity between SNOR and OSA, the anesthesiologist finds the basis for an optional plan of airway management. For a description of the devices now available please see our products page on this web site.