[Postoperative respiratory complications of myotonia dystrophica (Steinert's disease)]

Respiratory difficulties have long been recognized to be a major risk in patients with myotonia dystrophica, but postoperative pulmonary complications have only rarely been considered. Two cases of postoperative pulmonary complications which led to the patients's death stressed the severity and difficulty of treatment of these complications. A third case of postoperative respiratory failure revealed the underlying disease. These cases showed all the more the importance of preventing pulmonary complications. Pre-, per- and postoperative measures, chosen with respect to the severity of the myotonia and the seat of the surgical procedure, are suggested.