title: Retrognathia and sleep apnea. A life-threatening condition masquerading as narcolepsy.
abstract: The association of sleep apnea with daytime hypersomnolence without obesity, and its potentially lethal cardiopulmonary sequelae, make it crucial that this condition be distinguished from narcolepsy. A patient with retrognathia who had been diagnosed as a narcoleptic for 15 years had the primary complaint of excessive daytime sleepiness. Sleep laboratory evaluation showed severe hypoxemia and a mean of 366 upper airway obstructions per night. The patient was treated with a tracheotomy; this resulted in relief of the sleep-related upper airway obstructions, hypoxemia, and hypersomnolence.
mesh_terms: D000402:Airway Obstruction / Q000209:etiology / Q000601:surgery; D001049:Apnea / Q000150:complications*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D003951:Diagnostic Errors; D006970:Disorders of Excessive Somnolence / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D000860:Hypoxia / Q000209:etiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D063173:Retrognathia / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D012893:Sleep Wake Disorders; D014140:Tracheotomy