Myopathy and Neuropathy Acquired in the Intensive Care Unit

Author(s):  
Priya S. Dhawan ◽  
Jennifer A. Tracy

Acquired weakness in critically ill patients is common, affecting between one-third to one-half of patients in the intensive care unit (ICU). Exposure to simultaneous stressors such as metabolic derangements, fluid and electrolyte shifts, infection, catabolic stress, and medications put patients in the ICU at risk for damage to both nerve and skeletal muscle with substantial and often lasting morbidity. Critical illness polyneuropathy is a length-dependent, axonal peripheral neuropathy occurring in patients in the ICU and unrelated to the primary illness. Critical illness myopathy is an ICU-associated muscle disorder occurring independently of denervation and uniquely identified by electrophysiologic and histologic characteristics.

2007 ◽  
Vol 92 (8) ◽  
pp. 3330-3333 ◽  
Author(s):  
Liese Mebis ◽  
Lies Langouche ◽  
Theo J. Visser ◽  
Greet Van den Berghe

Abstract Context: Critical illness is associated with the low T3 syndrome. It remains unclear whether altered type II deiodinase activity (D2) in skeletal muscle contributes to this syndrome. Objective: Our objective was to study D2 expression and activity in skeletal muscle of acute and prolonged critically ill patients. Design and Setting: We conducted a clinical observational study in acute and prolonged critical illness with comparison with healthy controls at a university hospital surgical intensive care unit. Patients: Subjects included 63 prolonged critically ill patients who died in the intensive care unit, 21 acutely ill patients, and 38 controls matched for age, gender, and body mass index. Results: Elevated expression of the D2 gene and D2 activity in skeletal muscle of prolonged, but not acute, critically ill patients were observed in the face of low circulating thyroid hormone levels. Conclusions: Reduced D2 activity does not appear to play a role in the pathogenesis of the low T3 syndrome of critical illness.


2014 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 112-121 ◽  
Author(s):  
Efstratios Apostolakis ◽  
Nikolaos A. Papakonstantinou ◽  
Nikolaos G. Baikoussis ◽  
George Papadopoulos

2000 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 192-198 ◽  
Author(s):  
JE Hupcey ◽  
HE Zimmerman

BACKGROUND: Critically ill patients vary in their memories of their experience in the intensive care unit. Some have little recall and need to learn about their critical illness. Others have more vivid memories of their experiences, some of which were extremely unpleasant. Patients' not knowing what was happening may have exacerbated the unpleasant experiences. OBJECTIVES: To elicit the experience of knowing for critically ill patients and to explore the differences in perceptions between patients who were intubated and those who were not intubated during the illness. METHODS: Grounded theory was used to explore the meaning of knowing and not knowing and the process by which knowing occurs. Unstructured interviews were done with 14 patients. RESULTS: Knowing had 2 phases: the need to know (1) during and (2) after the critical illness. The first phase had 3 facets: needing information, needing to be oriented, and having confusing perceptions. The second phase had 2 facets: needing information about what had happened and piecing together events. Many experiences with knowing during and after a critical illness were similar for both intubated and nonintubated patients. The main difference was the intensity of the experience in some categories. CONCLUSIONS: Critically ill patients have a strong need to know throughout and after their time in the intensive care unit. Nurses must address this need for constant reorientation to the past and present in these patients. In addition, adequate nursing staff must be available for these patients.


2014 ◽  
Vol 42 (6) ◽  
pp. 715-722 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Adnan ◽  
S. Ratnam ◽  
S. Kumar ◽  
D. Paterson ◽  
J. Lipman ◽  
...  

Augmented renal clearance (ARC) refers to increased solute elimination by the kidneys. ARC has considerable implications for altered drug concentrations. The aims of this study were to describe the prevalence of ARC in a select cohort of patients admitted to a Malaysian intensive care unit (ICU) and to compare measured and calculated creatinine clearances in this group. Patients with an expected ICU stay of >24 hours plus an admission serum creatinine concentration <120 μmol/l, were enrolled from May to July 2013. Twenty-four hour urinary collections and serum creatinine concentrations were used to measure creatinine clearance. A total of 49 patients were included, with a median age of 34 years. Most study participants were male and admitted after trauma. Thirty-nine percent were found to have ARC. These patients were more commonly admitted in emergency ( P=0.03), although no other covariants were identified as predicting ARC, likely due to the inclusion criteria and the study being under-powered. Significant imprecision was demonstrated when comparing calculated Cockcroft-Gault creatinine clearance (Crcl) and measured Crcl. Bias was larger in ARC patients, with Cockcroft-Gault Crcl being significantly lower than measured Crcl ( P <0.01) and demonstrating poor correlation (rs=-0.04). In conclusion, critically ill patients with ‘normal’ serum creatinine concentrations have varied Crcl. Many are at risk of ARC, which may necessitate individualised drug dosing. Furthermore, significant bias and imprecision between calculated and measured Crcl exists, suggesting clinicians should carefully consider which method they employ in assessing renal function.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiao-Ming Zhang ◽  
Denghong Chen ◽  
Xiao-Hua Xie ◽  
Jun-E Zhang ◽  
Yingchun Zeng ◽  
...  

Abstract Background The evidence of sarcopenia based on CT-scan as an important prognostic factor for critically ill patients has not seen consistent results. To determine the impact of sarcopenia on mortality in critically ill patients, we performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to quantify the association between sarcopenia and mortality. Methods We searched studies from the literature of PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library from database inception to June 15, 2020. All observational studies exploring the relationship between sarcopenia based on CT-scan and mortality in critically ill patients were included. The search and data analysis were independently conducted by two investigators. A meta-analysis was performed using STATA Version 14.0 software using a fixed-effects model. Results Fourteen studies with a total of 3,249 participants were included in our meta-analysis. The pooled prevalence of sarcopenia among critically ill patients was 41 % (95 % CI:33-49 %). Critically ill patients with sarcopenia in the intensive care unit have an increased risk of mortality compared to critically ill patients without sarcopenia (OR = 2.28, 95 %CI: 1.83–2.83; P < 0.001; I2 = 22.1 %). In addition, a subgroup analysis found that sarcopenia was associated with high risk of mortality when defining sarcopenia by total psoas muscle area (TPA, OR = 3.12,95 %CI:1.71–5.70), skeletal muscle index (SMI, OR = 2.16,95 %CI:1.60–2.90), skeletal muscle area (SMA, OR = 2.29, 95 %CI:1.37–3.83), and masseter muscle(OR = 2.08, 95 %CI:1.15–3.77). Furthermore, critically ill patients with sarcopenia have an increased risk of mortality regardless of mortality types such as in-hospital mortality (OR = 1.99, 95 %CI:1.45–2.73), 30-day mortality(OR = 2.08, 95 %CI:1.36–3.19), and 1-year mortality (OR = 3.23, 95 %CI:2.08 -5.00). Conclusions Sarcopenia increases the risk of mortality in critical illness. Identifying the risk factors of sarcopenia should be routine in clinical assessments and offering corresponding interventions may help medical staff achieve good patient outcomes in ICU departments.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-5
Author(s):  
Bin Liu ◽  
Kun Xiao ◽  
Peng Yan ◽  
Tianyu Sun ◽  
Jiang Wang ◽  
...  

Background. Critical illness in the intensive care unit (ICU) has been a global health priority. Systemic nutritional status has turned out to be related to the prognosis of critically ill patients. The albumin-globulin ratio (AGR) has been reported to be a novel prognostic factor of many diseases. This study is aimed at investigating whether the AGR could predict the mortality risk in critically ill patients. Methods. We enrolled 582 adult patients admitted to the respiratory intensive care unit (RICU). We collected the clinical and laboratory data. X-tile software was used to determine the optimal cut-off values for the AGR. Patients were divided into three groups according to the AGR (low AGR group with AGR < 0.8 , medium AGR group with AGR ranging from 0.8 to 1.1, and high AGR group with AGR > 1.1 ). Kaplan-Meier analysis was used for survival analysis. A Cox proportional hazard model was applied to the univariate and multivariate analyses for the potential predictors associated with survival. Results. Our present study showed that the AGR was related to the 28-day survival of critically ill patients in the RICU. The rate of pneumonia in the low AGR group was significantly higher than that in the other groups. Patients with a lower AGR present an increased risk of 28-day mortality compared to patients with a higher AGR. Cox regression analysis showed that the AGR might be an independent predictor of prognosis to 28-day survival in critically ill patients in the RICU. Medium and high AGR values remained independently associated with better 28-day survival than low AGR values (HR: 0.484 (0.263-0.892) ( p = 0.02 ); HR: 0.332 (0.166-0.665) ( p = 0.002 )). Conclusion. The AGR might be an independent predictor of prognosis in critically ill patients.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiao-Ming Zhang ◽  
Denghong Chen ◽  
Xiao-Hua Xie ◽  
Jun-E Zhang ◽  
Yingchun Zeng ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: The evidence of sarcopenia based on CT-scan as an important prognostic factor for critically ill patients has not seen consistent results. Objective: To determine the impact of sarcopenia on mortality in critically ill patients, we performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to quantify the association between sarcopenia and mortality.Methods: We searched studies from the literature of PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library from database inception to June 15, 2020. All observational studies exploring the relationship between sarcopenia based on CT-scan and mortality in critically ill patients were included. The search and data analysis were independently conducted by two investigators. A meta-analysis was performed using STATA Version 14.0 software using a fixed effects mode. Results: Fourteen studies with a total of 3,249 participants were included in our meta-analysis. The pooled prevalence of sarcopenia among critically ill patients was 38% (95% CI:36%-39%). Critically ill patients with sarcopenia in intensive care unit have an increased risk of mortality, compared to critically ill patients without sarcopenia (HR=2.22, 95%CI: 1.79-2.75; P<0.001; I2=0.0%). In addition, a subgroup analysis found a significant difference in the association between sarcopenia and mortality when using total psoas muscle area (TPA), skeletal muscle index (SMI), and skeletal muscle area (SMA) to define sarcopenia (HR=2.96,95%CI:1.72-5.11,P<0.001; HR = 2.11,95%CI:1.59-2.80,P<0.01; HR=2.11, 95%CI:1.33-3.33,P=0.001, respectively), whereas the results were not significant when measuring the masseter muscle to define sarcopenia (HR=2.00, 95%CI:0.82-4.90,P=0.129).Conclusion: Sarcopenia increases the risk of mortality in critical illness. Identifying the risk factors of sarcopenia should be routine in clinical assessments, offering corresponding interventions may help medical staff achieve good patient outcomes in ICU departments.


TH Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 05 (02) ◽  
pp. e134-e138
Author(s):  
Anke Pape ◽  
Jan T. Kielstein ◽  
Tillman Krüger ◽  
Thomas Fühner ◽  
Reinhard Brunkhorst

AbstractThe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has a serious impact on health and economics worldwide. Even though the majority of patients present with moderate and mild symptoms, yet a considerable portion of patients need to be treated in the intensive care unit. Aside from dexamethasone, there is no established pharmacological therapy. Moreover, some of the currently tested drugs are contraindicated for special patient populations like remdesivir for patients with severely impaired renal function. On this background, several extracorporeal treatments are currently explored concerning their potential to improve the clinical course and outcome of critically ill patients with COVID-19. Here, we report the use of the Seraph 100 Microbind Affinity filter, which is licensed in the European Union for the removal of pathogens. Authorization for emergency use in patients with COVID-19 admitted to the intensive care unit with confirmed or imminent respiratory failure was granted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on April 17, 2020.A 53-year-old Caucasian male with a severe COVID-19 infection was treated with a Seraph Microbind Affinity filter hemoperfusion after clinical deterioration and commencement of mechanical ventilation. The 70-minute treatment at a blood flow of 200 mL/minute was well tolerated, and the patient was hemodynamically stable. The hemoperfusion reduced D-dimers dramatically.This case report suggests that the use of Seraph 100 Microbind Affinity filter hemoperfusion might have positive effects on the clinical course of critically ill patients with COVID-19. However, future prospective collection of data ideally in randomized trials will have to confirm whether the use of Seraph 100 Microbind Affinity filter hemoperfusion is an option of the treatment for COVID-19.


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