Snoring associated with Ondine's curse in a patient with brainstem glioma.

Ondine's curse is an uncommon type of sleep apnea syndrome characterized by failure of automatic respiration. We present an adult patient with brainstem glioma who presented with snoring and Ondine's curse as the only symptoms.

METHODS

A 52-year-old female was brought to the hospital by a fellow resident due to exceptionally loud snoring. During the hospitalization, Ondine's curse was diagnosed after monitoring using Apnomonitor 5 (Chest Co., Tokyo), a cheap, non-invasive respiratory monitoring procedure. MRI and MR spectroscopy revealed a brainstem glioma. After radiation therapy, clinical response was documented using repeat apnomonitoring.

CONCLUSIONS

Exceptionally loud snoring in non-obese adult patients with sleep apnea may be an early feature of a brainstem space-occupying lesion. Overnight sleep respiratory evaluation and neuroimaging should be considered in such instances.