Nederlands tijdschrift voor geneeskunde
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Ned Tijdschr Geneeskd · Feb 1996
Case Reports[Acute myopathy during treatment of status asthmaticus].
Two patients with chronic pulmonary disease, a woman of 38 and a man of 54 years old, who had developed a status asthmaticus, had difficulties being weaned from artificial ventilation. They suffered from an acute myopathy caused by a combination of high-dose corticosteroids and muscle relaxants (pancuronium, vecuronium). ⋯ The prognosis is good; almost complete recovery occurs. Muscle biopsy may reveal necrotising myopathy and occasionally, selective loss of thick myofilaments.
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Ned Tijdschr Geneeskd · Feb 1996
Case Reports[Problems in weaning from artificial ventilation: 'motor neuron disease'].
Three patients, two men aged 71 and one aged 73 years, were given artificial respiration because of acute respiratory failure. Subsequently they could not be weaned from artificial respiration, due to causes that were not immediately clear. It was ultimately found that the patients suffered from 'motor neuron disease', in two of them due to progressive spinal muscular atrophy, while the third, apart from loss of anterior horn motor cells, also had thoracic hydromelia. The patients died after termination of the artificial respiration.