SYNDROME OF EXTREME OBESITY AND HYPOVENTILATION: STUDIES OF ETIOLOGY

Abstract

The syndrome of extreme obesity, hypoventilation, polycythemia and heart failure has been recognized with increasing frequency since 1955. The most characteristic cardiorespiratory dysfunction in these patients is hypoventilation, evidenced by an elevated arterial CO2 tension. The physiologic alteration encountered in patients with this syndrome implicates excessive work of breathing as a cause for the hypoventilation and attendant features. Our studies of 17 patients with this syndrome and our experimental studies on controls support this concept. We attempted to duplicate some of the functional abnormalities of these patients by binding the chest and abdomen of 10 control subjects. Pulmonary function studies were abnormal during binding, and these functional changes were similar to those of the obese syndrome patients.