[Preliminary screening of nocturnal sleep breathing disturbance in patients with ischemic cerebral stroke].
OBJECTIVE
To investigate nocturnal sleep breathing disturbance in patients with ischemic cerebral stroke.


METHODS
Forty-one patients with cerebral infarction undertook all-night screening of sleep breathing. The clinical features between cerebral infarction concomitant with mild and severe sleep breathing disturbance were compared, and the effects of different infarcted sites and sizes, the infarction history and symptoms on the breathing disorders were analyzed.


RESULTS
The history of cerebral infarction was significantly shorter in patients with AHI greater than 20 (P < 0.01) whose breathing frequencies were also significantly lower (P = 0.043). Breathing disturbance was remarkably severe in patients with brainstem involvement (P = 0.045), with larger infarctions and with abnormalities of ingestion, pharyngeal reflex, speech, tongue thrust, consciousness, and motion coordination.


CONCLUSIONS
Newer cerebral infarctions are commonly accompanied with relatively severe breathing disturbance. The occurrence of hypopnea would increase when brainstem is involved, and more severe breathing disturbance is associated with larger infarctions. The functioning abnormalities of tissues surrounding the upper airways resulted from infarctions are considered to be involved in the exacerbation of sleep disturbance.
Wang
Dong
D
Department of respiratory diseases, Airforce General Hospital of Chinese People's Liberation Army, Beijing 100036, China.
Zhang
Bo
B
Shi
Jin
J
Peng
Bo
B
Liu
Yi
Y
Fan
Zai-wen
ZW
Liu
Ying
Y
Gao
He
H
Ji
Shu-guo
SG
D000328:Adult; D001933:Brain Stem / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012891:Sleep Apnea Syndromes / Q000453:epidemiology*; D020521:Stroke / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000473:pathology