Detection of Neuromuscular Complications in Critically Ill Patients

Dysphagia and the intensive care unit-acquired weakness (ICU-AW) are common and outcome-relevant neuromuscular complications in critically ill patients, especially after prolonged mechanical ventilation, sepsis and multi-organ failure. However, the impact of these two complications on the clinical course of critically ill patients needs further investigation. Furthermore, the standard diagnostic procedure to detect and grade the acquired dysphagia using the fiberoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing (FEES) and the Medical Research Council sum score (MRC-ss) to detect ICU-AW are time-consuming and strongly dependent on patient compliance. An early and easy-to-use detection of these neuromuscular complications is currently difficult to be achieved in this patient population. Neuromuscular ultrasound (NMUS) and the measurement of neuromuscular damage blood biomarkers became increasingly interesting for clinical researchers in the recent years due to their broad availability and their simple and non-invasive application. However, the value of these new diagnostic tests to evaluate dysphagia and ICU-AW needs to be verified.