TY - JOUR T1 - Is Cheyne-Stokes respiration friend or foe of heart failure? JF - Thorax JO - Thorax SP - 106 LP - 107 DO - 10.1136/thoraxjnl-2012-202725 VL - 68 IS - 1 AU - Fumihiko Yasuma Y1 - 2013/01/01 UR - http://thorax.bmj.com/content/68/1/106.2.abstract N2 - I agree with Dr MT Naughton's interesting opinion expressed in ‘Cheyne-Stokes respiration: friend or foe?’ in his recent opinion in Thorax. 1 Central sleep apnoea with Cheyne-Stokes respiration (CSA-CSR) indeed has multiple features more likely to be compensatory than injurious in heart failure (HF). His view, however, seems to lack insight into the heart–lung interaction in CSA-CSR, and reminds me of the fundamental question of ‘why does the heartbeat synchronise with respiratory rhythm?’.2 In polygraphic recording in a HF patient with CSA-CSR (figure 1A), heartbeats are clustered during the hyperventilation period and scattered during the apnoeic period of CSR-CSA with cycle-length of approximately 90 s. This phenomenon is known as … ER -