About Us

Our Team

Dr. Bernard Durante is double board certified in Otolaryngology and Sleep Medicine. He is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons (FACS), and a member of the American College of Surgeons Oncology Group. (ACOSOG) • Assistant Clinical Professor of Otolaryngology Tufts University School of Medicine/Tufts-New England Medical Center. Chief of Surgery at Jordan Hospital from 1994–2007. In 2019 Dr. Bernard Durante won the Castle Connolly Top Doctors

Dr. Anit T. Patel is double board certified in Otolaryngology and Sleep Medicine. He is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons (FACS). A graduate of John Hopkins University, he holds a MD/MBA degree from Tufts University School of Medicine. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery. In 2019 and 2020 Dr. Anit Patel won the Castle Connolly Top Doctors award.

The Early Years

In the early 1980’s, as a resident-in-training at the Medical College of Georgia, I had the privilege of participating with Drs. John Harmon, and Ed Porubsky in some of the earliest trials of surgical intervention for sleep disordered breathing. Most of these patients were morbidly obese, and in addition to gastric stapling and UPPP, tracheotomy was the mainstay of airway management.

Long Term Management

We believe that long term follow-up and tailoring of therapeutic parameters, particularly in our patients with OSA, is essential. Compliance rates with both CPAP and BIPAP can be quite poor overall and must be monitored closely with appropriate adjustments made regularly.

Tailoring Therapy to Pathology

Accurately tailoring our upper airway intervention in our OSA patients to their particular pathology as demonstrated on physical exam, MR imaging, endoscopy, or lateral cepalometric studies, helps to significantly decrease morbidity by eliminating low yield procedures, and increase efficacy by performing the most targeted procedures in one intervention.

Our Piliosophy

Sleep disordered breathing and other sleep related disorders are currently under-diagnosed and under-treated. Since many of these entities are associated with significant morbidity, and mortality particularly in the geriatric population, our focus is to treat these patients early and to avoid any significant interim morbidity while more permanent solutions are sought.

Our Approach

We believe the depth and breath of experience and expertise available at SSSD (from in-depth experience with the gamut of surgical intervention available to pharmacological and pulmonary management) allows us to provide seamless and tailored therapeutic options to our patients.

Multi Modality Therapy

Just as multi modality therapy works better than a single modality in treating malignant neoplasia of the head and neck, so too the patient with sleep disordered breathing will likely benefit from a combination of therapies including pharmacologic, surgical, and external appliances. 

Accurate Assessment

Today, more sophisticated polysomnographic testing, a host of pharmacologic, behavioral, and minimally invasive surgical techniques supplement pneumatic external airway stabilization.