Ondine's curse is a disorder where involuntary ventilatory drive is lost. Patients who fall asleep stop breathing and die.
It is rare and may be a primary genetic problem.
Recurrent exposure to hypercapnia or hypoxia may result in decreased ventilatory drive.
Iatrogenic cases have followed over-zealous surgery to relieve chronic pain - bilateral division of the spinothalamic tracts in the neck can involve the fibres required for involuntary breathing effort.
Annotations allow you to add information to this page that would be handy to have on hand during a consultation. E.g. a website or number. This information will always show when you visit this page.