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Updated: Aug 9, 2026

Drug-Induced Sleep Endoscopy (DISE) with Target Controlled Infusion (TCI) and Bispectral Analysis in Obstructive Sleep Apnea
Published on: December 6, 2016
Snoring associated with Ondine's curse in a patient with brainstem glioma
Elio Arnaldo Marin-Sanabria1, Norikata Kobayashi, Shigeru Miyake
1Department of Neurosurgery, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, 7-5-1, Kusunoki-Cho, Chuo-Ku Kobe 6500017, Japan. eamarin@yahoo.com
Unlabelled:
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.
Case Report:
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.
Conclusion:
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.
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