Apneustic respirations
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Apneustic respiration (a.k.a. apneusis) is an abnormal pattern of breathing characterized by deep, gasping inspiration with a pause at full inspiration followed by a brief, insufficient release.
Accompanying signs and symptoms may include decerebrate or decorticate posturing; fixed, dilated pupils; coma or profound stupor; quadriparesis; absent corneal reflex; absent doll's eye sign; negative oculocephalic reflex; and obliteration of the gag reflex.
Causes
It is caused by damage to the pons or upper medulla caused by strokes or trauma. Specifically, concurrent removal of input from the vagus nerve and the pneumotaxic center causes this pattern of breathing. It is an ominous sign, with a generally poor prognosis.
It can also be temporarily caused by some drugs, such as ketamine.
See also
External links
- About brain injury and functions
- http://jap.physiology.org/cgi/reprint/55/3/851.pdf
- 912982089 at GPnotebook
Acknowledgement and Attribution Regarding Sources of Content
Some of the initial content on this page may be incorporated in part from copyleft sources in the public domain including wikis such as Wikipedia and AskDrWiki. Drug information for patients came from the The National Library of Medicine. Infectious disease information may have come from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Differential Diagnoses are drawn from clinicians as well as an amalgamation of 3 sources: 1.The Disease Database; 2. Kahan, Scott, Smith, Ellen G. In A Page: Signs and Symptoms. Malden, Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishing, 2004:3; 3. Sailer, Christian, Wasner, Susanne. Differential Diagnosis Pocket. Hermosa Beach, CA: Borm Bruckmeir Publishing LLC, 2002:7 .

