on a ventilator in order to survive. However, it has now been shown that biphasic cuirass ventilation can effectively be used without the need for a tracheotomy. Other potential treatments for CHS include oxygen therapy and medicine for stimulating the respiratory system. Currently, problems arise with the extended use of ventilators, including fatal infections and pneumonia. Prognosis Most people with CCHS (unless they have the Late Onset form) do not survive infancy, unless they receive ventilatory assistance during sleep. An alternative to a mechanical ventilator is diaphragm pacing. History CCHS was first described in 1962 by Severinghaus and Mitchell in three patients following surgery to the upper cervical spinal cord and brainstem. Etymology Its name is a reference to the story of Ondine and Hans, characters in Ondine, a 1938 play by Jean Giraudoux based on traditions tracing back through Undine (a novella of 1811) to earlier European folk tales. The water-spirit Ondine tells her future husband Hans, whom she had just met, that "I shall be the shoes of your feet ... I shall be the breath of your lungs". Ondine reluctantly makes a pact with her uncle the King of the Ondines that if Hans ever deceives her he will die. After their honeymoon, Hans is reunited with his first love Princess Bertha. Ondine leaves Hans in an attempt to protect him, but she is recaptured by a fisherman and Hans is stricken by the King's curse. On meeting Ondine again, Hans tells her that "all the things my body once did by itself, it does now only by special order ... A single moment of inattention and I forget to breathe". Hans and Ondine kiss, after which he dies. Since being coined in 1962 the name has become controversial in medical literature, as later summaries frequently misunderstood the plot of Ondine and its connection to the diagnosis. Most frequently, Ondine was inaccurately blamed for cursing Hans, but other mistakes sometimes changed the nature of the curse itself. Such errors led to confusion in defining the medical condition. See also Our Curse, an Oscar-nominated 2013 short documentary film about a child with Ondine's curse References External links Breathing abnormalities Respiratory diseases Neurological disorders Sleep disorders Rare syndromes