title: Right ventricular failure in a patient with diabetic neuropathy (myopathy) and central alveolar hypoventilation.
abstract: An unusual patient with hypoxemia, hypercapnia, and right ventricular failure is presented. Minimal skeletal muscle weakness, although present, cannot explain hypercapnia. Muscle biopsy revealed diabetic microangiopathy. Carbon dioxide stimulation demonstrated a diminished hypercapnic ventilatory response. The patient benefited from progesterone therapy. In this unusual patient, mild muscular weakness, caused by diabetes, and central alveolar hypoventilation have acted in synergism to cause abnormal ventilation and right ventricular failure.
mesh_terms: D003929:Diabetic Neuropathies / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology*; D006352:Heart Ventricles; D006801:Humans; D007040:Hypoventilation / Q000150:complications* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010100:Oxygen / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use; D011374:Progesterone / Q000627:therapeutic use; D011650:Pulmonary Alveoli / Q000503:physiopathology
chemical_list: D011374:Progesterone; D010100:Oxygen