Usefulness of Inhaled Sedation in Patients With Severe ARDS Due to COVID-19.

BACKGROUND: Sedation in intensive care is fundamental for optimizing clinical outcomes. For many years the world has been facing high rates of opioid use, and to combat the increasing opioid addiction plans at both national and international level have been implemented.1 The COVID-19 pandemic posed a major challenge for health systems and also increased the use of sedatives and opioid analgesia for prolonged periods of time, and at high doses, in a significant proportion of patients. In our institutions, the shortage of many drugs for intravenous (IV) analgosedation forces us to alternatives to replace out-of-stock drugs or to seek sedation goals, which are difficult to obtain with traditional drugs at high doses.2 METHODS: This was an analytical retrospective cohort study evaluating the follow-up of subjects with inclusion criteria from ICU admission to discharge (alive or dead). Five end points were measured: need for high-dose opioids (≥ 200 µg/h), comparison of inhaled versus IV sedation of opioid analgesic doses, midazolam dose, need for muscle relaxant, and risk of delirium. RESULTS: A total of 283 subjects were included in the study, of whom 230 were administered IV sedation and 53 inhaled sedation. In the inhaled sedation group, the relative risks (RRs) were 0.5 (95% CI 0.4-0.8, P = .045) for need of high-dose fentanyl, 0.3 (95% CI 0.20-0.45, P < .001) for need of muscle relaxant, and 0.8 (95% CI 0.61-1.15, P = .25) for risk of delirium. The median difference of fentanyl dose between the inhaled sedation and IV sedation groups was 61 µg/h or 1,200 µg/d (2.2 ampules/d, P < .001), and that of midazolam dose was 5.7 mg/h. CONCLUSIONS: Inhaled sedation was associated with lower doses of opioids, benzodiazepines, and muscle relaxants compared to IV sedation. This therapy should be considered as an alternative in critically ill patients requiring prolonged ventilatory support and where IV sedation is not possible, always under adequate supervision of ICU staff.

Polineuropatía y miopatía en el paciente crítico revisión de la literatura / Polyneuropathy and myopathy in critically ill patients - a literature review

La polineuropatía y la miopatía del paciente crítico son complicaciones frecuentes en la UCI que se caracterizan por debilidad muscular generalizada incluyendo la limitación en el destete de la ventilación mecánica, prolongando la estancia hospitalaria y el riesgo de otras complicaciones. Causan discapacidad crónica en los sobrevivientes de la enfermedad crítica debido a cambios funcionales y estructurales en las fibras nerviosas y musculares resultando en la degeneración del nervio axonal, pérdida de miosina del músculo, hipoxia celular y necrosis muscular, lo que conduce a la inexcitabilidad eléctrica de nervios y músculos, con debilidad muscular reversible. El diagnóstico se realiza mediante la clínica, estudios electrofisiológicos y biopsia muscular. El control metabólico y de factores de riesgo reducirian la gravedad de las complicaciones y la rehabilitación temprana en la unidad podría acelerar la recuperación funcional y la independencia de los pacientes...

Critical illness polyneuropathy and myopathy are frequent complications in patients admitted to the ICU distinguished by generalized muscle weakness which hinders weaning from mechanical ventilation thus prolonging length of hospitalization and posing a higher risk of other complications. They cause chronic disability in survivors of critical illness due to functional and structural changes in nervous and muscular fibers resulting in axonal degeneration, loss of myosin filaments, cell hypoxia and muscle necrosis leading to nerve and muscle electrical inexcitability causing reversible muscle weakness. Clinical features and electrophysiologic testing or muscle biopsy are the gold standard for diagnosis. Controlling metabolic factors and risk factors could reduce serious complications and rehabilitation at an early stage of the ICU stay could improve functional recovery and patient independence...