Neuromuscular complications of critical illness.
Patients admitted to intensive care units (ICUs) suffer from a wide range of neurological disorders. Some develop within the ICU rendering weakness and difficulty in weaning patients from ventilator support. ICUAW, or ICU acquired weakness, is a broad term that includes several more specific neuromuscular problems. After exclusion of other causes of weakness, ICUAW includes critical illness polyneuropathy (CIP), first described by Charles Bolton, critical illness myopathy (CIM), and disorders of neuromuscular junction transmission. This chapter reviews the clinical, electrophysiological, and pathological features of these conditions and provides clinicians with approaches toward diagnosing and investigating ICUAW.
Department of Clinical Neurosciences and the Hotchkiss Brain Institute, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Kurien
K
Koshy
Douglas W
DW
Zochodne
D016638:Critical Illness; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units; D009468:Neuromuscular Diseases / Q000145:classification / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000266:history; D010523:Peripheral Nervous System Diseases / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis
CIM; CIP; axonal degeneration; axonal neuropathy; critical illness myopathy; critical illness polyneuropathy; polyneuropathy; respiratory failure; sepsis