Table of Contents
- Overview
- Symptoms
- Treatment
- Prevention
- Images
Primary alveolar hypoventilation is a rare disorder of unknown cause in which a person does not take enough breaths per minute. The lungs and airways are normal.
Alternative Names
Ondine's curse
Causes, incidence, and risk factors
Normally, when the oxygen levels in the blood are low or the carbon dioxide levels are high, there is a signal from the brain to breathe more deeply or more quickly. In people with primary alveolar hypoventilation, this change in breathing does not happen.
The cause of primary alveolar hypoventilation is unknown. Some patients have a specific genetic defect.
The disease mainly affects men 20 to 50 years old, although it may also occur in young boys.
Images
Review Date: 09/17/2010
Reviewed By: David C. Dugdale, III, MD, Professor of Medicine, Division of
General Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Washington
School of Medicine; Denis Hadjiliadis, MD, Assistant Professor of
Medicine, Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care,
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA. Also reviewed by
David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.
A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org)
