• B Tabarki, A Coffiniéres, P Van Den Bergh, G Huault, P Landrieu, and G Sébire.
• Service de neuropédiatrie et service de neurologie, Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc, Université Catholique de Louvain, Avenue Hippocrate 10, 1200 Brussels, Belgium. bmlaiki@excite.fr
• Arch. Dis. Child. 2002 Feb 1; 86 (2): 103-7.

BackgroundCritical illness neuromuscular disease, which has been recognised as a distinct clinical entity in adults, remains poorly described in children.AimsTo assess retrospectively the clinical, electrophysiological, and prognostic features of the disease.MethodsRetrospective study in a children's university hospital.ResultsFive critically ill patients presented with generalised paralysis, associated with long lasting failure to breathe in three. The cause of the generalised paralysis was critical illness neuropathy in two, acute myopathy in two, and mixed neuromyopathy in one.ConclusionsNeuromuscular disease should be suspected in critically ill children with muscle weakness. Because corticosteroids and muscle relaxants appear to trigger some types of intensive care unit neuromuscular disease in children, their use should be restricted or administered at the lowest doses possible.

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