Voluntary and Automatic Respiratory Failure after Unilateral Medullary Infarct
-A Case Report-In-

J Korean Neurol Assoc > Volume 18(2); 2000 > Article

Journal of the Korean Neurological Association 2000;18(2): 252-254.

일측성 연수 경색에 의한 수의성 및 자동 호흡 부전 1예

송인욱, 제종석 ㆍ이보람 ㆍ이태경 ㆍ안무영 ㆍ박형국

순천향대학교 의과대학 신경과학교실

Voluntary and Automatic Respiratory Failure after Unilateral Medullary Infarct -A Case Report-In-

Uk Song, M.D., Jong-Seok Jae, M.D., Bo-Ram Lee, M.D., Tae-Kyeong Lee, M.D., Moo-Young Ahn, M.D., Hyung-Kook Park, M.D.

Department of Neurology, College of Medicine, Soonchunhyang University

Abstract

Medullary respiratory centers are composed of two respiratory groups: dorsal and ventral. A dorsal respiratory group consists primarily of inspiratory neurons. A ventral respiratory group consists both of inspiratory and expiratory neu-rons. A direct infarction of their structure may lead to a complete loss of respiratory drive involving both automatic and voluntary components. A 78-year-old man was admitted with sudden dysarthria, dizziness, and bilateral ophthalmople-gia. On the second and third hospital day, he nearly had a complete loss of respiratory drive involving both automatic and voluntary components. He did not get the respiratory drive during CO2 retention while consciousness and motor were preserved. Brain MRI showed unilateral lesions involving the medullary reticular formation, nucleus tractus soli-tarius, nucleus ambiguus, and nucleus retroambiguus but sparing the corticospinal tract. Unilateral medullary infarction may lead to severe respiratory failures not limited to automatic responses, which differentiates it from Ondine’s curse. J Korean Neurol Assoc 18(2):252~254, 2000 Key Words : Medulla oblongata, Respiratory center, Cerebral infarction