[Treatment of nocturnal periodic hypoxemia with safrazine hydrochloride in a patient with Duchenne muscular dystrophy under nasal intermittent positive pressure ventilation].

Nocturnal periodic hypoxemia occurring in a 25-year-old Duchenne muscular dystrophy patient under NIPPV control was successfully treated with monoamine oxydase inhibitor (MAOI), safrazine hydrochloride. Five mg of safrazine hydrochloride was administered before sleep, and the periodic hypoxemia disappeared within 14 days. The effect lasted almost seven months without notable side effect. MAOI may be effective for nocturnal hypoventilation through suppression of REM sleep as in the case of tricyclic antidepressants. The effect of tricyclic antidepressants appears immediately. However, it usually fades away within forty days. Safrazine hydrochloride was effective obviously longer than tricyclic antidepressants. Consequently MAOI may be a hopeful candidate of medication for a treatment of nocturnal periodic hypoxemia in Duchenne muscular dystrophy.