Medical News The Valley's Leading Resource for Health and Wellness 3 Millions of Americans don’t realize that obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is disrupting their nights and affecting their health. Sleep apnea is more than snoring, and understanding this common condition could change the way you think about sleep and help protect your long-term health. If you go to bed exhausted, sleep for eight hours, and still wake up tired, the problem may not be how long you sleep; it may be the quality, which can be significantly affected by whether you’re breathing properly. The silent (or not so silent) threat. Sleep apnea occurs when the upper airway repeatedly narrows or collapses during sleep, interrupting breathing and reducing oxygen levels. The brain briefly arouses the body to restore airflow, sometimes hundreds of times throughout the night. These interruptions can prevent restorative sleep because each one resets the sleep cycle to the beginning. This inhibits the restorative phase of sleep, leaving you tired in the morning. According to the American Heart Association, approximately 34% of middle-aged men and 17% of middle-aged women meet diagnostic criteria for OSA, yet many remain undiagnosed.1 Warning signs. Loud snoring is a familiar symptom most of us recognize. Other warning signs include gasping or choking during sleep, witnessed breathing pauses, morning headaches, dry mouth, persistent fatigue, difficulty concentrating and excessive daytime sleepiness. Women may experience less obvious symptoms, including insomnia, headaches and fatigue, making sleep apnea easier to overlook. Elevated risks. Untreated sleep apnea places repeated stress on the cardiovascular system. The American Heart Association reports that OSA is present in approximately 40–80% of people with certain cardiovascular conditions, including hypertension, heart failure, coronary artery disease, atrial fibrillation and stroke.2 It is also associated with increased risks of heart attack, stroke, irregular heart rhythms, type 2 diabetes and motor vehicle accidents related to daytime sleepiness.3 Not every person with sleep apnea will develop these conditions, but they reinforce why diagnosis and treatment matter. Diagnosis. A sleep study measures breathing disturbances and oxygen levels to determine whether sleep apnea is present and how severe it is. Depending on your symptoms and medical history, testing may be performed at home or in a sleep laboratory. A qualified medical provider interprets the results and recommends appropriate treatment. Treatment options. The good news is that sleep apnea is treatable. Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) remains a highly effective treatment that uses gentle www.DesertHealthNews.com November/December 2026 In the Coachella Valley. Choose the When comparing 2024 Medicare.gov data from Coachella Valley hospitals. In an emergency, every minute matters. At Desert Care Network, we’re committed to delivering quality care – fast. With three locations in the Desert, we’re here, close to home, with the medical care you need when you need it most. And that’s just the beginning. • Desert Regional Medical Center in Palm Springs • JFK Memorial Hospital in Indio • Hi-Desert Medical Center in Joshua Tree Sounding the Sirens on Sleep Apnea By Rene Dell’Acqua, DDS Sleep apnea increases health risks but often goes undiagnosed. Continued on page 14 Publisher’s Note: Dr. Holmes is a leading advocate of cryoablation (cancer freezing) for breast cancer, the minimally invasive treatment I chose eight years ago in lieu of a double mastectomy. Holmes’ two decades of work contributed significantly to the Food and Drug Administration’s first approval of cryoablation for breast cancer (Desert Health July/Aug 2026), but not without significant resistance to change. This message appeared in his October newsletter and is a good reminder to all practitioners. It is reprinted with Holmes’ permission. In September, I had the honor of delivering the keynote lecture, "Breast Cancer Cryoablation: From Principle to Practice," at the inaugural Breast Radiology Symposium in Campinas, Brazil. I owe sincere thanks to two young breast surgeons, Drs. Roberto Giordano and Vanessa Sanvido, who, in the face of considerable obstacles, are leading the way in bringing breast cancer cryoablation to Brazil. My presentation traced more than two decades as a breast cryoablation researcher and advocate. But I chose to begin with the "elephant in the room": the tension between innovation and resistance to change, which nearly every innovator meets upon stepping beyond the boundaries of the current standard of care. Having walked this road throughout my career, I offered four principles, meant as much for innovators as for those who doubt them: Always remember your why. Why did you choose medicine? Why this specialty or subspecialty? Our answers will differ, yet most of us entered this profession with the same desire: to make a meaningful difference. Returning to that purpose restores the conviction and passion we need when colleagues counsel us against venturing beyond the standard of care. My own "why" has never wavered: to expand the options available to women with breast cancer while keeping quality of life at the center of their care. That purpose has guided my pioneering work and advocacy in oncoplastic surgery, intraoperative radiotherapy, lymph node–sparing surgery and cryoablation. Listen with obligation. To listen with empathy is essential. To listen with obligation asks more of us. It carries us past heartfelt understanding to a responsibility to act: to respond to what we have heard, to seek solutions and to meet the needs that existing approaches leave unanswered. This is where innovation begins. Patient-centered care is about patients. Without a meaningful range of treatment options, patient-centered care risks becoming little more than a slogan, one that in practice yields to doctor-centered care. To honor our patients is to give them a real voice in choosing care that reflects their goals, their values and their preferences. Embrace proportionality. Modern breast cancer care is moving steadily toward the least intensive intervention that achieves the patient's treatment goals. That path demands nuance and balance. Proportionality allows us to escalate or de-escalate treatment according to each patient's tumor biology, tumor anatomy, breast anatomy and personal preferences. Proportionality thrives where options abound. Innovation is rarely easy. But when it is sustained by a clear why, inspired by listening that compels action, guided by proportionality and grounded in the needs of the patient, it can change not only how we treat people with cancer, but how we think about cancer care itself. Dr. Holmes is a breast cancer surgeon and researcher with Adventist Health Glendale. For more information and to inquire about current cryoablation for breast cancer clinical trials, visit www.cryoablation.com. Medicine: Remembering Your “Why” By Dennis R. Holmes, MD, FACS
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