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Sleep-related respiratory disorders

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Abstract

Neurologists are becoming increasingly aware of the frequency and clinical importance of sleep-related respiratory impairment.

Sleep-induced narrowing of the upper airways underlies the widespread and supposedly trivial complaint of snoring, which may not only constitute a risk factor for the cardiocirculatory system, but in predisposed individuals, may lead to a sleep apnea syndrome, with its array of serious disturbances, including hypersomnia, systemic and pulmonary hypertension and ultimately heart failure.

Idiopathic chronic alveolar hypoventilation, or Ondine's curse, is a fairly stereotyped clinical syndrome: sleep-related respiratory insufficiency in the absence of airways stenosis.

Finally, sleep, and REM sleep in particular, significantly aggravates hypoventilation in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), kyphoscoliosis or chest musculoskeletal disorders.

Sommario

Sempre più spesso il neurologo è chiamato ad affrontare i problemi clinici legati ai disturbi del respiro durante il sonno. La stenosi delle prime vie aeree durante il sonno è alla base di un fenomeno tanto diffuso quanto ritenuto banale, il russamento, che non solo rappresenta un fattore di rischio per il sistema cardiocircolatorio, ma, in individui predisposti, può portare alla sindrome delle apnee ostruttive, caratterizzata da ipersonnia, ipertensione polmonare e sistemica e infine scompenso cardiaco.

L'ipoventilazione alveolare cronica idiopatica, o maledizione di Ondine, è caratterizzata invece da una ipoventilazione durante il sonno, in assenza di stenosi delle vie aeree o di malattie polmonari e scheletriche.

Il sonno infine, ed in particolare il sonno REM, aggrava notevolmente l'ipoventilazione già presente in veglia nei pazienti con broncopneumopatie croniche ostruttive, o con malattie muscolari e scheletriche che interessino la gabbia toracica.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Istituto di Neurologia dell'Università di Bologna, Bologna

    Lugaresi E., Cirignotta F., Mondini S., Montagna P. & Zucconi M.

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  1. Lugaresi E.
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  2. Cirignotta F.
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  3. Mondini S.
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This work was supported by grants of the Ministero della Pubblica Istruzione.

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Lugaresi, E., Cirignotta, F., Mondini, S. et al. Sleep-related respiratory disorders. Ital J Neuro Sci 6, 389–399 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02331030

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