1 From the Department of Pediatrics and the Jacobo Lichtman Apnea Unit, Haifa Medical Center and Israeli Naval Hyperbaric Institute, Haifa, Israel
A central hypoventilatory state developed in a 6-month-old boy with environmentally induced hyperthermia. The condition subsided within 24 hours of mechanical ventilation. Hypoxic and hypercapneic challenges performed 2 weeks later showed complete resolution of the respiratory chemoreceptor dysfunction. The damage to the CNS caused by accidental hyperthermia in general, and more specifically to the respiratory center, and its possible etiologic role in the pathophysiology of sudden infant death syndrome are discussed.
Key Words: hyperthermia sudden infant death syndrome respiratory chemoreceptor overheating
Submitted on May 22, 1987
Accepted on July 21, 1987