Paediatric neuromuscular weakness

Airway clearance in neuromuscular weakness.

Impaired airway clearance leads to recurrent chest infections and respiratory deterioration in neuromuscular weakness. It is frequently the cause of death. Cough is the major mechanism of airway clearance. Cough has several components, and assessment tools are available to measure the different components of cough. These include measuring peak cough flow, respiratory muscle strength, and inspir...

Acquired Neuromuscular Weakness in Critical Illness

Neurological Sequelae of Sepsis: II) Neuromuscular Weakness

Critical illness polyneuropathy (CIP) and critical illness myopathy (CIM) have been established as separate entities of muscular weakness in critically ill patients, although both may be associated to each other in some respects. Both are associated to systemic inflammatory response syndrome, sepsis, and severe sepsis. Major signs of nerve and muscle disturbances in critically ill patients are ...

Neuromuscular blocking agents in paediatric anaesthesia.

Neuromuscular blocking agents are used commonly in paediatric anaesthesia, both to facilitate tracheal intubation and during surgery. Paediatric patients differ from adults in certain pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic characteristics. However, because maturational changes in certain of these characteristics counterbalance, dosing requirements do not differ markedly with age. In general, onset...

Acute neuromuscular weakness in the intensive care unit.

INTRODUCTION Patients in the intensive care unit develop generalized weakness due to a number of factors. Neuromuscular weakness is a common cause of failure to wean from the ventilator and decreased limb movements. A rational approach to evaluation of weakness will help to identify most of the common causes of neuromuscular weakness in the intensive care unit. AIMS This review provides an an...