Overview

• • Look For

  • Periods of hyperventilation interspersed with periods of apnoea or bradypnoea.

• • Significance

  • Cheyne-Stokes respiration occurs when hyperventilation lowers the arterial CO₂ below the apnoeic threshold.

• • Causes of Cheyne-Stokes Respiration

  • Physiological - at high altitudes
  • Obstructive sleep apnoea
  • Congestive cardiac failure
  • CNS - stroke, traumatic brain injury, tumour