Nasal administration pharmacological effect

Pharmacological treatment of OSA is an elusive concept. A number of selective serotonin receptor inhibitors (SSRIs) and other medications were tried and found to be ineffective. SSRIs and analogous medication have been anecdotally reported to help REM-related OSA, but no study systematically confirmed this claim. Two studies showed positive effect of mirtazapine [33, 34], a tetracyclic non-SSRI antidepressant, on OSA, but further research on a bigger sample is necessary. On the other hand, one should be aware of a muscle relaxation property of some commonly used medications such as benzodiazepines (BZDs), which may result in a worsening of OSA. Assisted nasal ventilation is commonly used in patients with both hypercapnic and non-hypercapnic CSA. The administration of oxygen is observed to ameliorate the frequency of both the central and obstructive events in patients with a predomi-... 

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