Background: Neuromuscular weakness in paediatric patients with sepsis and multiple organ dysfunction is increasingly reported. However, many aspects of neuromuscular involvement in critically ill children are not completely understood. As more patients survive the critical illness, an understanding of the long-term outcomes of this condition is needed.
Aims: To describe clinical and electrophysiological features and evaluate the long-term outcomes in critically ill paediatric patients with neuromuscular complications.
Methods: A case series of five critically ill children was observed prospectively for a 1-month period. Selected clinical and laboratory parameters were evaluated. Electrophysiological studies were performed during the first week and then 1 month later in order to detect signs of critical illness polyneuromyopathy (CIPM). Patients with neuromuscular involvement completed a 1-year follow-up.
Results: Electrophysiological abnormalities were detected in two patients. Flaccid quadriplegia was a clinical presentation. Both children had electromyographic evidence of chronic partial denervation at follow-up, findings indicative of a preceding axonal neuropathy. Marked but incomplete recovery within 1 year after the onset of the disease occured in both patients. With a mild residual functional handicap the health-related quality of life was not significantly impaired (Barthel Index > 80).
Conclusions: In both our patients with CIPM, the long-term clinical outcome is markedly better than we expected when electromyography in the 1-year follow-up demonstrated a persistent severe chronic partial denervation. These findings can have important implications for the management and rehabilitation of paediatric intensive care survivors.