2026 NREMT Advanced-EMT Complete Practice Test

Cheyne-Stokes breathing is a cyclic pattern of breathing in which breaths gradually become deeper and faster, then slower, and are followed by a pause. This occurs when the brain’s respiratory control system loses stable regulation, usually from injury to the central nervous system, particularly the brainstem and surrounding regulatory areas that coordinate breathing. The brainstem houses the medullary respiratory centers that set the rhythm; when their function is disrupted, the normal regular pattern breaks into periodic breathing. This CNS-origin pattern signals brain injury rather than a primary lung or heart problem, which is why brainstem injury is the best fit. The other conditions affect the heart or lungs directly and don’t typically produce this central, periodic breathing pattern.