Ondine’s curse /ondēnz″/ [L, Undine, mythic water nymph; ME, curs, invocation] , apnea caused by loss of automatic control of respiration. The term refers to a syndrome in patients with a defect in central chemoreceptor responsiveness to carbon dioxide. The patient is able to breathe voluntarily but has hypercapnia and hypoxemia. Ondine’s curse may result in pickwickian syndrome or sleep apnea and may be one cause of sudden infant death syndrome. The syndrome may occur as a result of opioid or other drug overdose, after bulbar poliomyelitis or encephalitis, or after surgery involving the brainstem or the higher segments of the cervical spinal cord, as in cervical cordotomy for intractable pain.
