Ondine's curse


Ondine's curse

 [on´dēnz] a condition in which patients have lost autonomic control of respiration and become apneic upon falling asleep; it is due to lesions or surgery of the high spinal cord or brainstem; named after Ondine, a water nymph in Greek mythology who caused a mortal who loved her to sleep forever.
A popular term for
(1) Primary alveolar (congenital central) hypoventilation (central apnoea)
(2) Sleep apnoea syndrome

On·dine's curse

(on-dēn' kŭrs) Idiopathic central alveolar hypoventilation in which involuntary control of respiration is depressed, but voluntary control of ventilation is not impaired. [Ondine, char. in play by J. Giraudoux, based on Undine, Ger. myth. char.]