Alveolar hypoventilation primary

Pieters T, Amy JJ, Burrini D, Aubert G, Rodenstein DO, Collard Ph. Normal pregnancy in primary alveolar hypoventilation treated with nocturnal nasal intermittent positive pressure ventilation. Eur Respir J 1995 8 1424—1427. 

Mixed ventilatory disorders Bronchiectasis Sequelae of tuberculosis Nonpulmonary diseases Dysfunction of respiratory centers Primary alveolar hypoventilation Obesity hypoventilation syndrome Depressant drugs Myxoedema Lesion of brainstem Neuromuscular diseases Poliomyelitis... 

This patient with primary alveolar hypoventilation did not sense her underlying respiratory failure—either initially, when she would turn blue and lose consciousness, or subsequently, when, after many years of stability, a pacing wire failed. 

The third example is of a 48-year-old woman in whom bilateral pacers were inserted at the age of 16 because of primary alveolar hypoventilation. She remained very stable and was employed on a full-time basis. Her VC was 106% predicted, FEVi/FVC was 88%, MIP 87% predicted, and MEP 66% predicted. Regular follow-up showed excellent gas exchange, although on assessing her pacemakers, the right side had failed to function for some years. 

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