Anterior Spinal Artery Syndrome Complicated by the Ondine Curse

Abstract

The sleep breathing pattern was compatible with central alveolar hypoventilation due to automatic breathing control failure caused by a lesion of the reticulospinal pathway, which normally activates ventilatory muscles during sleep. This autonomic sleep breathing impairment resembles that found as a complication in patients who undergo spinothalamic tract cervical cordotomy for intractable pain. This surgical complication is known as the Ondine curse.