Acquired neuromuscular weakness due to critical illness polyneuropathy and myopathy (CIPNM) frequently develops in patients hospitalized in the intensive care unit for more than 1 week. CIPNM may present with muscle weakness and failure to wean from mechanical ventilation, but is discovered more often and earlier by electrophysiological examination. In this review, the incidence, clinical and e...

INTRODUCTION The objective was to search the literature with a view to providing a general description of critical illness myopathy/polyneuropathy (CIM/CIP), including its genesis and prevention. Furthermore, it was our aim to determine whether new treatments have occurred in the past five years. MATERIAL AND METHODS PubMed, Cinahl and Swedmed+ were searched using the terms CIM, CIP and inten...

INTRODUCTION This prospective study investigated whether plasma ionized calcium concentration abnormalities and other electrolyte disturbances represent risk factors for the development of critical illness polyneuromyopathy (CIPNM) in ICU patients. METHODS One hundred and ninety consecutive adult critically ill patients with prolonged ICU stay (longer than 7 days) were prospectively evaluated...

BACKGROUND Acquired diffuse paresis in an intensive care unit (ICU) can result from critical illness myopathy or polyneuropathy. Clinical examination and conventional neurophysiological techniques may not distinguish between these entities. OBJECTIVE To assess the value of direct muscle stimulation (DMS) to differentiate myopathic from neuropathic process in critically ill patients with diffu...

BACKGROUND Weakness in the ICU may be caused by a number of disorders. Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) and myasthenia gravis (MG) are examples of conditions that might lead to an ICU admission. The most likely cause of weakness after ICU admission is critical illness polyneuropathy/myopathy (CIP/M). REVIEW SUMMARY Studies have attempted to determine both clinical and pulmonary function criteria...

OBJECTIVES Critical illness polyneuropathy is a common disorder in the neurological ICU. Dysphagia is well known to deteriorate outcome in the ICU. The prevalence of dysphagia in critical illness polyneuropathy is not known. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of dysphagia in critical illness polyneuropathy using fiberoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing. DESIGN Prospect...