Late-onset Congenital Central Hypoventilation Syndrome and the Mutation of Phox2B Gene

Plain-language summary

Congenital central hypoventilation syndrome (CCHS) is a rare disorder of respiratory control characterized by ventilatory impairment that results in arterial hypoxemia. Although patients typically present this disease as newborns and rarely in later infancy, there have been reports of patients presenting with CCHS in adulthood. The present study reports a unique familial case in which the father (proband) presented late-onset CCHS with an expansion mutation of the Phox2B gene that was confirmed by genetic analysis. Surprisingly, the proband did not report any manifestation of the disease during childhood, and the disease progressed following an insidious course until adulthood. At the time of diagnosis, he did not present signs of pulmonary hypertension and right-side heart failure. The patient responded well to nocturnal invasive ventilation. In contrast, his son presented CCHS as a newborn with the full complement of symptoms while his daughter did not. The present report shows that CCHS cases characterized by a mutated Phox2 gene can progress without many symptoms and that the treatment approach used here was efficient for controlling the course of the disease. Furthermore, this case indicates that incomplete penetrance can occur. Genetic screening of family members is mandatory to evaluate the reproductive risk of the disease, especially because asymptomatic mutation carriers may be at high risk to develop the disease and transmit it to the next generation.

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