[Chronic tonsillar hypertrophy as a cause of cor pulmonale, pulmonary oedema, and hypersomnia in children (author's transl)].

Chronic hypertrophied tonsils and adenoids causing partial airway obstruction produced serious illness and a confusing clinical picture in a 51/2-year-old boy. Cardinal signs were cor pulmonale, pulmonary oedema and marked cardio-respiratory changes due to hypoxaemia and hypercapnia, in addition to hypersomnia. Marked improvement of the clinical picture and the abnormal signs followed directly upon tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy. Chronic alveolar hypoventilation is presumably the main cause of the described condition and of others of extracardiac origin with similar signs and symptoms.