Soft Magnetic Pillars to Secure an Upper Airway for the Relief of Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Abstract The inherent mechanical properties of soft structures allow fragile objects to be safely manipulated without the need for precise force control. Soft structures and driving mechanisms are employed in applications ranging from gripping and locomotion to biomedical devices. Such soft structures can be especially beneficial for manipulating excessively relaxed live soft human tissue, to relieve discomfort or medical conditions. An example is obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), where soft tissue narrows or blocks the upper airway while sleeping, causing difficulty breathing. In this paper, an approach to relieve OSA using injectable soft magnetic pillars paired with a removable magnet holder that can be worn while sleeping to secure the upper airway is reported. The approach provides an alternative to currently available treatments that may cause inconveniences such as difficulty swallowing, protrusion through soft tissue, repetitive surgeries, or sleep disruption. Experimental results and computational studies are used to determine the necessary degree of pulling force and distance, which can be adjusted by controlling the number of implanted soft magnetic pillars and external magnetic field strength. Further experiments using cadavers demonstrate the opening of the upper airway confirming the feasibility of the approach.