What is PICS
The so-called Post-Intensive Care Syndrome (PICS) is a broad category of symptoms & signs that are assigned to prolonged ICU-stay related condition that includes mental, & physical manifestations that tend to linger long after the patient comes off the ICU stay. The Society of Critical Care Medicine also has a very good patient- information page on PICS syndrome.
Early identification of PICS
By far the most obvious early manifestation of PICS is a very intense weakness caused by a combination of
critical illness polyneuropathy (CIP), critical illness myopathy (CIM), or a combination of these two entities.
PICS related Weakness
Weakness is intense and requires very aggressive physical therapy as the mainstay of rehabilitation. It is important for the practitioner to be conversant with the pathophysiology, recognize the symptoms early, and strive to avoid the development of PICS in the first place.
References
- Rawal G, Yadav S, Kumar R. Post-intensive Care Syndrome: an Overview. J Transl Int Med. 2017;5(2):90-92. Published 2017 Jun 30. doi:10.1515/jtim-2016-0016.
Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5506407/ - Society of Critical Care Medicine. Consumer Information Article: Post-intensive Care Syndrome. Internet article. Last updated 2013. Available at: https://www.sccm.org/MyICUCare/THRIVE/Post-intensive-Care-Syndrome.
- Zhou C, Wu L, Ni F, Ji W, Wu J, Zhang H. Critical illness polyneuropathy and myopathy: a systematic review. Neural Regen Res. 2014;9(1):101-10. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4146320/
- Khoiny AS, Behrouz R. Critical Illness Polyneuropathy and Critical Illness Myopathy. Online article. Available at: http://practicalneurology.com/2011/06/critical-illness-polyneuropathy-and-critical-illness-myopathy/
Please Like & Share via:
