POLINEUROMIOPATIA DEL PACIENTE CRITICAMENTE ENFERMO

Abstract

The critically ill patient’s myopathy is one of the most frequent complications in the intensive care units, it was described for the first time in 1977 by MacFarlane and collaborator. Different names have been used to describe the clinical status that more than a unique  entity corresponds to multiple types of muscular damage. Among  the most  used there are: necrotizing  myopathy,quadriplejic myopathy, post-paralysis syndrome and heavy filaments myopathy, although some authors prefer to include these clinical signs under the name of polyneuromyopathy. Nevertheless the most common denomination is acute neuromuscular syndrome. The objective of this document is to analyze the different causes and manifestations of the muscular weakness that critically ill patients develop in the intensive care unit period, and the diagnosis  and  evaluation  of the myopathy of the critically ill patients, taking into account that the most common factors that trigger the development of this entity are: the clinical status, etiopathogenesis  in  sepsis processes, drug use like the neuromuscular blockaders, corticoids, sedative drugs, the relaxation, the respiratory muscle deficiency and the prolonged stay in bed.