Brain : a journal of neurology
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Nineteen patients developed polyneuropathy complicating critical illness. They had been admitted to a critical care unit following intubation for cardiac or pulmonary disease and had developed sepsis and multiple organ failure. Approximately one month following intubation, failure to wean from the ventilator and limb weakness prompted neurological referral. ⋯ Seventeen of the patients were segregated by electrophysiological criteria into mild (8) and severe (9) polyneuropathy categories. An analysis of these two groups failed to reveal putative metabolic, drug, nutritional or toxic factors that might be responsible for the polyneuropathy. Our studies suggest that the mechanism may be a fundamental defect, still unknown, which causes dysfunction of all organ systems in this syndrome.