title: [Obesity hypoventilation syndrome--serious but reversible providing weight is lost].
abstract: Obesity hypoventilation syndrome (OHS) is a condition in which obesity and chronic hypoventilation during waking hours are combined. Patients with OHS are more likely to be hospitalized and to require intensive-care monitoring compared with patients with similar degrees of obesity without hypoventilation. Treatment with chronic non-invasive positive pressure ventilation (NPPV) is associated with a lower morbidity and mortality. We present 2 cases of OHS; in the first case, a 56-year-old woman, we show that it is very important to diagnose and treat OHS at an early stage in order to avoid severe morbidity. In the second case, a 31-year-old man, we show that if a patient with OHS and chronic NPPV looses a significant amount of weight NPPV can be discontinued. Patients with OHS should be treated in a multidisciplinary team in order to achieve significant weight loss, so NPPV could be a temporary treatment or even be avoided.
authors.affiliation: Universitair Medisch Centrum Utrecht, Divisie voor Inwendige Geneeskunde en Dermatologie, Utrecht, the Netherlands. m.a.gaytant@umcutrecht.nl
authors.forename: Michael A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Gaytant
authors.forename: Erik J A
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Westermann
authors.forename: Pierre M J
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Zelissen
authors.forename: Mike J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Kampelmacher
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010845:Obesity Hypoventilation Syndrome / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000628:therapy*; D010313:Partial Pressure; D017286:Polysomnography; D011175:Positive-Pressure Respiration / Q000379:methods*; D011659:Pulmonary Gas Exchange; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D015431:Weight Loss / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D002245:Carbon Dioxide