[Myotonic dystrophy and acute respiratory insufficiency]

Myotonic dystrophy or Steinert's disease may be discovered during acute respiratory failure, sometimes caused by a general anaesthetic. It complicates chronic respiratory failure which is present in almost all cases, both restrictive and obstructive, the clinical signs of which progress with the myopathy. Apart from myotonic degeneration of the respiratory muscles, a hypoventilation syndrome of central origin has been described, but the etiology of this respiratory failure is dominated by repeated aspiration pneumonia favoured by constant dysphagia and passage of food into the trachea and poor cough reflex. One should attempt to correct this.