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Neuropediatrics 1993; 24(3): 123-125
DOI: 10.1055/s-2008-1071527
Original article

© Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York

Peripheral Neuropathy and Neuromuscular Blockade Presenting as Prolonged Respiratory Paralysis Following Critical Illness

J. Z. Heckmatt1 , M. C. Pitt2 , F.  Kirkham1
  • 1Department of Neurology, Great Ormond Street, Children's Hospital, London, UK
  • 2Department of Neurophysiology, Great Ormond Street, Children's Hospital, London, UK
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Publikationsdatum:
19. März 2008 (online)

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Abstract

We report two patients who following critical illness presented with generalised paralysis associated with persistent failure to breathe. Both patients eventually recovered and were weaned from the ventilator. The cause of the paralysis was an unusual peripheral neuropathy in the first patient and persistent neuromuscular blockade secondary to vecuronium in the second. It is important to consider a reversible, possibly even iatrogenic, cause of this type of complication.

Key words

Peripheral neuropathy - Prolonged neuromuscular blockade - Critical illness