Measurement of muscle strength in the intensive care unit
This paper explores the measures available to assess and predict intensive care unit-acquired muscle weakness. The discussion centres around the selection of the appropriate muscle to test in order to make adequate predictions of a patient’s outcome. The authors propose that the upper airway dilators are much more susceptible to a decrease in muscle strength than the diaphragm, and impairment of upper airway patency is a key mechanism of extubation failure in intensive care unit patients. Additionally data suggests that the adductor pollicis muscle is an appropriate reference muscle to predict weakness of muscles that are typically affected by intensive care unit-acquired weakness, i.e., upper airway as well as extremity muscles. Stimulated (evoked) force of skeletal muscles, such as the adductor pollicis, can be assessed repetitively, independent of brain function, even in heavily sedated patients during high acuity of their disease.
Related posts:
- Intensive care unit-acquired weakness: Risk factors and prevention
- Early intensive care unit mobility therapy in the treatment of acute respiratory failure.
- Predictors of Adverse Events in Patients After Discharge From the Intensive Care Unit
- Patients with respiratory failure increase ambulation after transfer to an intensive care unit where early activity is a priority.
- Monitoring of extubated patients: are routine arterial blood gas measurements useful and how long should patients be monitored in the intensive care unit?
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