Distinction Between Acute Myopathy Syndrome and Critical Illness Polyneuropathy

The article by Wijdicks and colleagues entitled “The Clinical Spectrum of Critical Illness Polyneuropathy,” which was published in the October 1994 issue of the Mayo Clinic Proceedings (pages 955 to 959), merits comment. The authors describe six patients with quadriparesis ascribed to critical illness polyneuropathy. Two patients in their series (cases 5 and 6), however, may have had a myopathy attributable to corticosteroids and neuromuscular blocking agents rather than a polyneuropathy. Both patients received neuromuscular blocking agents.