Lateral medullary syndrome with Ondine's curse

Abstract

Objectives: To analyse the clinical characteristic of Lateral Medullary Syndrome (LMS) with Ondine's curse. Materials and methods: This is a report of 3 cases of LMS with Ondine's curse. Characteristics and clinical presentations of three patients were described and analysed. Results: All patients were male and they were 63, 65 and 84 y old respectively. All had diabetes mellitus and poor glucose control. Patients 2 and 3 had snoring, smoking and alcohol use history. Patients 1 and 2 had hypertension. Ondine's curse occurred on the 5th, 10th and 23rd d after their strokes. All were on mechanical ventilation. Patients 2 and 3 were extubated successfully after 4 and 52 d of onset of Ondine’s curse. Patient 1 died. Conclusions: Ondine's curse is a rare and fatal condition. Diagnosing early, providing life support quickly and improving the variable risk factors are necessary for improving outcome. More researches are needed to elucidate its epidemiology, etiology, clinical characteristic, treatment and prognosis.