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Review
. 2020 Sep:79:241-245.
doi: 10.1016/j.jocn.2020.07.058. Epub 2020 Jul 24.

Approach to critical illness myopathy and polyneuropathy in the older SARS-CoV-2 patients

Brendan McClafferty  1 , Ibrahim Umer  2 , Gary Fye  2 , Douglas Kepko  2 , Ricci Kalayanamitra  3 , Zainab Shahid  2 , Devyani Ramgobin  4 , Alice Cai  3 , Andrew Groff  3 , Abani Bhandari  5 , Chander Shekher Aggarwal  6 , Ravi Patel  7 , Dhirisha Bhatt  7 , Hyma Polimera  7 , Nitasa Sahu  7 , Ramarao Vunnam  7 , Reshma Golamari  7 , Ashutosh Kumar  8 , Rohit Jain  7
Affiliations
Review

Approach to critical illness myopathy and polyneuropathy in the older SARS-CoV-2 patients

Brendan McClafferty et al. J Clin Neurosci. 2020 Sep.

Abstract

One of the major concerns of the health care community and the public surrounding the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic is the availability and use of ventilators. Unprecedented surges of patients presented to intensive care units across the country, with older adults making up a large proportion of the patient population. This paper illustrates contemporary approaches to critical illness myopathy (CIM), critical illness polyneuropathy (CIP), and critical illness polyneuromyopathy (CIPNM) in older patients, including incidence, risk factors, mechanisms for pathology, diagnosis, contemporary treatment approaches, and outcomes. We hope that the following analysis may help educate clinicians and ultimately decrease the duration of the mechanical ventilation required by these patients, resulting in improved clinical outcomes and an increase in ventilator availability for other patients in need.

Keywords: COVID-19; Critical illness myopathy; Critical illness polyneuropathy; Intensive care unit-acquired weakness; Older adults; SARS-CoV-2.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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