Steroid-induced myopathy in the ICU

OBJECTIVE: To report a case of steroid-induced myopathy resulting from prolonged administration of corticosteroids in an asthmatic patient in a medical intensive care unit.

CASE SUMMARY: A 30-year-old white man presented with status asthmaticus requiring intubation for respiratory failure. His hospital course was complicated by the need for reintubation and the development of "quadriplegia." Electromyography does not identify neuropathy. After rapid tapering of systemic steroids, the patient quickly regained muscle strength, was extubated, and was transferred to a rehabilitation facility for prolonged physical therapy.

DISCUSSION: Steroid-induced myopathy is a rare occurrence in the intensive care setting. Cases of myopathy that have been reported have been associated with prolonged and combined use of corticosteroids with neuromuscular blocking agents or aminoglycosides. Corticosteroids are thought to produce deleterious effects through 1 or all of 3 main pathways: altered electrical excitability of muscle fibers, loss of thick filaments, and/or inhibition of protein synthesis. All of these pathways are believed to increase the rate of muscle catabolism and result in loss of muscle movement.

CONCLUSIONS: Steroid-induced myopathy is a complication of high-dose steroid use. Unfortunately, in this patient, initial treatment of status asthmaticus required intravenous steroids in high doses to adequately treat the presenting illness. Clinicians should be aware of neuromuscular findings and act aggressively to appropriately eliminate systemic steroids from the treatment regimen.

Medienart:

Artikel

Erscheinungsjahr:

2002

Erschienen:

2002

Enthalten in:

Zur Gesamtaufnahme - volume:36

Enthalten in:

The Annals of pharmacotherapy - 36(2002), 11 vom: 01. Nov., Seite 1741-4

Sprache:

Englisch

Beteiligte Personen:

Polsonetti, Bryan W [VerfasserIn]
Joy, Saju D [VerfasserIn]
Laos, Luis F [VerfasserIn]

Themen:

Adrenal Cortex Hormones
Case Reports
Journal Article

Anmerkungen:

Date Completed 21.02.2003

Date Revised 14.02.2017

published: Print

Citation Status MEDLINE

Förderinstitution / Projekttitel:

PPN (Katalog-ID):

NLM121868133