Optimizing testing methods and collection of reference data for differentiating critical illness polyneuropathy from critical illness MYOPATHIES

INTRODUCTION: In severe acute quadriplegic myopathy in intensive care unit (ICU) patients, muscle fibers are electrically inexcitable; in critical illness polyneuropathy, the excitability remains normal. Conventional electrodiagnostic methods do not provide the means to adequately differentiate between them. In this study we aimed to further optimize the methodology for the study of critically ill ICU patients and to create a reference database in healthy controls. METHODS: Different electrophysiologic protocols were tested to find sufficiently robust and reproducible techniques for clinical diagnostic applications. RESULTS: Many parameters show large test-retest variability within the same healthy subject. Reference values have been collected and described as a basis for studies of weakness in critical illness. CONCLUSIONS: Using the ratio of neCMAP/dmCMAP (response from nerve and direct muscle stimulation), refractory period, and stimulus-response curves may optimize the electrodiagnostic differentiation of patients with critical illness myopathy from those with critical illness polyneuropathy.